METHOD OF ATTACK. 307 



himself np once more to digest his meal in quiet. The time 

 required for this purpose varies of course according to the size 

 of the morsel ; but often weeks or even months will pass before 

 a boa awakens from the lethargic repose in which — the image 

 of disgusting gluttony — he lies plunged after a superabundant 

 meal. 



The reptiles in the Zoological Grardens are offered food once 

 a week, but even then their appetites are frequently not yet 

 awakened, though great care is taken never to spoil their 

 stomachs by excess. 



This is the time for visiting the Eeptile House, which other- 

 wise offers but little amusement, as the great snakes have either 

 retired from public life under their blankets, or lie coiled upon 

 the branches of the trees in their dens. Three o'clock is the 

 feeding-time, and the reptiles, which are on the look-out, seem 

 to know full well the errand of the man who enters with the 

 basket, against the side of which they hear the fluttering wings 

 of the feathered victims, and the short stamp of the doomed 

 rabbits. The keeper opens the door at the back of the den of 

 the huge pythons, for these he need not fear, takes off their 

 blanket and drops a rabbit, who hops from side to side, curious 

 to inspect his new habitation, and probably finding it to his 

 taste, sits on his haunches and leisurely begins to wash his 

 face. Silently the python glides over the stones, uncurling 

 his huge folds, looks for an instant upon his unconscious 

 victim, and the next has seized him with his jaws. His con- 

 tracting folds are twisted as swiftly as a whiplash round his 

 shrieking prey, and for ten minutes the serpent lies still, main- 

 taining his mortal knot until his prey is dead, when seizing it 

 by the ears, he draws it through his vice -like grip, crushing 

 every bone, and elongating the body preparatory to devour- 

 ing it. 



The arrangement for feeding the venomous kinds, is, of course, 

 more cautious. The door opens at the top instead of at the 

 side of the dens, and with good reason ; for no sooner does the 

 keeper remove with a crooked iron rod, the blanket from the 

 cobra, than the reptile springs with inflated hood into an S-like 

 attitude and darts laterally at his prey, whose sides have scarcely 

 been pierced, when it is seized with tetanic spasms, and lies 

 convulsed in a few seconds. 



X 2 



