SNAKES 121 



eye-spots with white centres. The top of the head is very 

 dark, and separated from the paler sides by a black streak 

 forming a point on the snout ; an oblique streak is situated 

 on each side behind the eye. The lower parts are whitish, 

 spotted with black. The Anaconda is very aquatic, and 

 is usually found submerged close to the banks of the river, 

 on the look-out for its prey. Although mammals and 

 crocodiles are occasionally eaten by this snake, it usually 

 prefers birds, these being constricted and eaten under 

 water. In spite of the fact that only a single instance of 

 an Anaconda having attacked man is on record, there is 

 a very great dread of this giant snake among the natives. 

 Although it grows to a length of over thirty feet, it is 

 sexually mature when about half that length, a sixteen- 

 foot-long specimen in our gardens having quite recently 

 given birth to four young, while Ditmars mentions a 

 specimen in the New York Gardens, of only a foot longer, 

 which brought forth a brood of as many as thirty-four. 



The four young mentioned above measured thirty-five 

 to thirty-six inches in length, and weighed fourteen to 

 sixteen ounces. The pattern of the newly born snakes 

 was identical with that of their parent. 



A smaller species of Anaconda, E. notceus, inhabits the 

 Argentine Republic and Paraguay. 



The Boas proper, genus Boa, number seven species, 

 inhabiting Tropical America and Madagascar. The fact 

 that this and a few other typical South American genera 

 are represented in Madagascar has suggested the inad- 

 missible theory that, at some time or other, the island 

 was connected with South America, a connection from 

 which Africa was excluded. In this genus the body, the 

 scales on which are smooth, is feebly compressed. The 



