THE DRAMA OF LIFE 17 



several species of ants keep Aphides or green flies as their 

 cows (vaccce formicarum as Linnaeus said), utilizing the 

 sweet fluid which they exude when they are stroked. 

 The ants take some care of the Aphides and resent inter- 

 ference with their property. 



Milking ant or aphis is dainty feeding ; contrast it with a 

 python's meals. A specimen of Python reticulata, about 

 25 feet long, which was observed in Hagenbeck's zoological 

 garden, swallowed a swan of 18 Ib. and two days later a 

 roebuck of 67 Ib. Another swallowed within two days 

 two roebuck of 28 Ib. and 39 Ib., and soon thereafter a 

 chamois of 71 Ib. In another case a goat of 84 Ib. in 

 weight was engulfed, and took about nine days to digest. 

 The pharynx can be dilated to a width of over a yard. 

 After a meal the pythons remain inert, and it should be 

 noted that although they often eat much, they do not need 

 to eat often ! Two of them remained in good condition 

 from spring to November without eating at all. 



The voracity of some of the Deep- Sea Fishes goes beyond 



FIG 6. A Deep-Sea Fish (Chiasmodon riger), whose distended stomach 

 contains a larger fish. (After Giinther.) 



