t90pu!ar JBtrttonarj) of gmmatett Mature. 77 



them in their ample 

 folds, crushing them 

 to death, and, lubri- 

 cating the bodies with 

 their saliva, swallow- 

 ing them at their lei- 

 sure. In this tribe 

 the branches of the 

 upper and lower jaw, 

 throughout the whole 

 length, as well as the 

 palate bones, are arm- 

 ed with pointed, re- 

 curved, solid, and per- 

 manent teeth, form- 

 ing four nearly equal 

 rows above, and two 

 below. They have the 

 tympanic bone or pe- 

 dicle of the lower jaw 

 moveable, which is 

 itself almost wholly 

 suspended to another 

 bone, analogous to 

 1UK ' the mastoid, attached 

 to the skull by muscles and ligaments, 

 which contribute to its mobility. The 

 branches of this jaw are not united, and 

 those of the upper jaw are attached to the 

 ! intermaxillary bone only by ligaments, so 

 that these animals can dilate the mouth 

 sufficiently to swallow bodies much larger 

 than themselves. They are further distin- 

 guished by having the scuta on the other 

 part of the tail single ; a hook on each side 

 of the vent ; the tail prehensile ; the body 

 compressed, and largest in the middle, and 

 with small scales, at least on the posterior 

 part of the head. 



Enormous as the size and power of such 

 animals must be, according to the latest and 

 best authenticated statements of eye-wit- 

 nesses, yet, if we may rely on the accounts of 

 ancient writers, there was a time when ser- 

 pents far more terrific committed their hide- 

 ous ravages, and kept whole armies in dis- 

 may. One of this kind is described as having 

 had its lair on the banks of the Bagradas, 

 near Utica, and to have swallowed many of 

 the Roman soldiers in the army of Regulus, 

 to have killed others in its folds, and to have 

 kept the army from the river ; till at length, 

 being invulnerable by ordinary weapons, it 

 was destroyed by heavy stones slung from 

 the military engines used in sieges : but, 

 according to the historian Livy (quoted by 

 Valerius Maximus), the waters were polluted 

 with its gore, and the air with the steams 

 from its corrupted carcass, to such a degree 

 that the Romans were obliged to remove 

 their camp, taking with them, however, the 

 skin, 120 feet in length, which was sent to 

 Rome. That none of such frightful dimen- 

 sions now infest the inhabited parts of the 

 earth we have abundant evidence ; and there 

 is good reason to believe that as cultivation 

 and population have increased, the larger 

 species of noxious animals have been ex- 

 pelled from the haunts of mankind, and 

 driven into more distant and uncultivated 

 regions. 



Some species of the genus Boa are found in 

 the vast marshes and swamps of Guiana, and 



other hot parts of the American continent : 1 

 others are natives of India, Africa, and the 

 larger Indian islands. They are at once pre- 

 eminent from their superior size and their | 

 beautiful colours ; and though destitute of 

 fangs and venom, nature has endowed them 

 with a degree of muscular power which seems 

 to defy resistance. The ground colour of the j 

 whole animal, in the younger specimens, is 

 a yellowish grey, and sometimes even a bright i 

 yellow, on which is disposed along the whole 

 lengt't of the back a series of large, chain- [ 

 like, reddish-brown variegations, leaving 

 large open oval spaces of the ground colour 

 at regular intervals : the largest or principal 

 marks composing the chain-like pattern 

 above mentioned are of a squarish form, 

 accompanied by large triangular and other 

 shaped spots, the exterior of the larger ones 

 being generally of a much darker cast, and 

 the ground colour immediately next to them 

 considerably lighter than on other parts, 

 thus constituting a general richness not easily 

 described. 



We cannot reflect upon the history of these 

 great reptiles without being struck with their 

 peculiar adaptation to the situations in which 

 they are commonly most abundant. In re- 

 gions bordering on great rivers, wliich an- 

 nually inundate vast tracts of country, these 

 serpents live securely among the trees with 

 which the soil is covered, and are capable of 

 enduring very protracted hunger, without 

 much apparent suffering, or diminution of 

 vigour. Noxious as such districts are to 

 human life, they teem with a gigantic and 

 luxurious vegetation, and are the favourite 

 haunts of numerous animals, preyed upon, 

 and, to a certain degree, restricted in their 

 increase, by the Ixxe. In such situations the 

 Boa Constrictor lurks, or winds itself round 

 the trunk or branches of a tree, until some 

 luckless animal approaches ; then, suddenly 

 relinquishing his position, swift as lightning 

 he seizes the victim, and coils his body spi- 

 rally round its throat and chest, until, after 

 a few ineffectual cries and struggles, the 

 animal is suffocated and expires. The prey 

 is then prepared for being swallowed, which 

 the creature accomplishes by pushing the 

 limbs into the most convenient position, and 

 then covering the surface with a glutinous 

 saliva. The reptile commences the act of 

 deglutition by taking the muzzle of the prey 

 into its mouth, which is capable of vast ex- 

 tension ; and, by a succession of wonderful 

 muscular contractions, the rest of the body 

 is gradually drawn in, with a steady and 

 regular motion. 



In Mr. M'Leod's narrative of the voyage 

 of H. M. ship Alceste to China, is the follow- 

 ing characteristic account of the Boa, as ob- 

 served on shipboard. " Notwithstanding the 

 crowded state of the Caesar," (the vessel in 

 wliich the crew of the Alceste returned, their 

 own having been wrecked), " two passengers, 

 of rather a singular nature, were put on 

 board at Batavia for a passage to England : 

 the one, a snake of that species called Boa 

 Constrictor ; the other, an Ourang Outang. 

 The former was somewhat small of his kind, 

 being only about sixteen feet long, and of 

 about eighteen inches in circumference j but 



