194 ANIMAL SKETCHES. CHA*. 



skull, and these aie capable of motion outwards, so as to 

 widen the space between them. Not only are there teeth 

 on the lower jaw and along the outer edges of the upper 

 jaw in the python's skull, there are also extra rows of teeth 

 implanted in bones which lie one on each side in the 

 palate. The teeth are not for crushing, or tearing or 

 chewing. They all slope markedly backwards, and are for 

 holding the prey. Your finger will slip into the mouth of 

 a small python easily enough; but try and draw it out 

 again, that is a different matter. The curved teeth are 

 constructed to prevent that. 



And so our python creeps little by little outside the 

 pigeon. Now the upper jaw, now the lower jaw ; now one 

 side, now the other, edges forward just a little an eighth 

 or a quarter of an inch. And every fraction of an inch 

 gained is so much to the good ; the recurved teeth make 

 sure of that. And, now the pigeon is halfway in, the 

 python's jaws being distended to the utmost. But how 

 does the creature breathe ? Kindly Nature, who is no 

 respecter of persons, and who has taken an infinity of 

 trouble over this despised snake, has provided for this 

 difficulty. The opening of the windpipe or glottis is not 

 far back in the throat as with us, but projects forward 

 into the mouth as a tube. And while a python is 

 swallowing its prey, the end of this tube may sometimes 

 be seen lolling out of one side of the mouth, and opening 

 and shutting as the snake breathes. In the python that 

 I am describing, I just caught sight of it as the pigeon 

 finally disappeared. When once through the mouth the 

 pigeon passed down the gullet pretty rapidly. The whole 

 process of swallowing occupied in this case thirty-four 

 minutes ; with an extra ten minutes of subsequent 

 yawning. 



The last of the victims to find a living tomb at Antwerp 



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