LIMBS OF ANACONDA 



every probability that this mythical beast is compounded 

 of many elements. The sucuruju is both aquatic and 

 arboreal, so that its chances of being washed out to sea 

 in an unusual spate are more than those of some other 

 large snakes. Given an unusually large anaconda and 

 a mariner cheered by a double allowance of grog, twi- 

 light and a stormy sea, and we have a good sea-serpent 

 basis at once. The anaconda (after all, " sucuruju " is 

 a tiresome word to say and to spell) grows very thick ; 

 and its head, which is large, is divided from its body by 

 a slender neck, instead of running into it as in the Euro- 

 pean allies of the anaconda, the snakes called Eryx. 

 It may seem absurd to say that this serpent has a parti- 

 cularly short tail ; for serpents seem to be either all 

 neck or all tail. But as a matter of fact, on the whole 

 serpents differ from lizards by the fact that they have a 

 short tail, while lizards have a long one. The tail is 

 marked in the anaconda by a pair of short recurved 

 claws, which, with some adjacent bonelets, are the re- 

 mains of the hind pair of limbs present also in all the 

 pythons and other immediate allies of the anaconda, 

 but absent in other snakes, such as the vipers and colu- 

 brines. The colour of this serpent is olive brown, with 

 black marks along the back. Like the great pythons of 

 Asia and Africa, the anaconda often, especially just 

 after it has shed its skin, and gotten a new one shows 

 beautiful iridescent hues. It brings forth its young 

 alive, as do the vipers. The anaconda is one of the 

 " constricting " snakes, that is, it crushes the life out of 

 its prey by winding round it before proceeding to eat it. 

 Much has been written about the deadly fascination 

 exercised by this and other snakes upon their intended 

 prey, which have been said to approach gradually to 

 their foe, allured by its brilliant eyes and steady stare. 

 As a matter of fact these legends of fascination appear 

 to be based upon two facts. Firstly, the flickering 



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