CLASS III. REPTILIA: ORDER 4. OPIIIDIA. 405 



R»-;:r.::^viiK 



BOA CONSTEICTORS ATTACKING A DEEE. 



seem to render their swallowing tliem a matter of impossibility ; yet, according to some writers, 

 they can destroy and gorge a hufFalo ; but specimens capable of such feats of voracity appear to be 

 rarely met with, although there is no doubt that a good-sized Python will easily SAvallow a goat or 

 calf. The victim is destroyed by powerful compression, effected by the snake coiling its body 

 round it, and then gradually tightening the folds. In this manner the body of the animal is 

 reduced to a state fit for being swallowed, and this operation usually takes a considerable time. 

 After being thus gorged with its meal, the serpent retires to some sheltered retreat, where it lies 

 in a torpid state for some Aveeks ; nor does it resume its activity till the digestion of its enor- 

 mous repast is complete, and hunger returns to rouse it again to action. 



There appear to be two species of Python, in both of which the female places her eggs in a 

 group, and encircles and covers them with her body, an instance of which took place in the 

 Garden of Plants of Paris a few years since, where a pair of these animals were kept. The Ular 

 Sawad, p. reticulaius, is distinguished by the four front upper labial plates being pitted ; the 

 frontal plate simple ; the head has a narrow longitudinal brown stripe. It is one of the most 

 brihiant species of the whole family, its entire body being covered with a gay lacing of gold and 

 black. It is a native of Hindostan, Ceylon, and Borneo. Several stuifed specimens are in the 

 British Museum, and a living one in the gardens of the Zoological Society. It is said to increase 

 till it is more than thirty feet in length, and stout in proportion. The powers of such a gigantic 

 reptile must be enormous, and it is stated that this serpent is able to manage a buffalo. Nor 

 are there wanting horrible instances of man himself having fallen a prey to these monsters, in 

 modern times. We are told that a Malay proa was anchored for the night under the island of 

 Celebes. One of the crew had gone on shore to search for betel-nut, and is supposed to have 

 fallen asleep upon the beach from weariness, on his return. In the dead of the night his com- 

 panions on board were roused by dreadful screams ; they immediately went ashore, but they came 

 too late; the cries had ceased, and the wretched man had breathed his last in the folds of an 

 enormous serpent, which they killed. They cut off the head of the snake, and carried it, together 

 with the lifeless body of their comrade, to the vessel. The right wrist of the corpse bore the 

 marks of the serpent's teeth, and the disfigured body showed that the man had been crushed by the 

 constriction of the reptile round the head, neck, breast, and thigh. The serpent which attacked 

 the sailor in a boat on the Bay of Bengal, of which we have just spoken, was of this species. 



The Rock-Snake, P. molurus, is generally known by the name of tlie Boa Constrictor, though 

 it is strictly a python. It grows to a great size, and resembles the preceding in its habit-s. 

 Specimens of this have frequently been seen in the menageries. It is a native of Hindostan 

 and other parts of Asia, and also of Java. 



