AN ADVENTURE. 71 



undoubtedly prompts the female Python to coil around her eggs 

 is to protect them from being eaten by wild animals, such as 

 mungooses, rats, and mice, and by Nilotic Monitor Lizards, other- 

 wise known as " Leguans," misnamed " Iguanas." 



One blazing hot summer day in Natal, we came across a Python 

 basking in the sun. On seeing us approach it vanished down a 

 hole, which proved to be that of an ant-eater, otherwise known 

 as an Aard-vark [Orycteropus afer), which is an animal as big as 

 an adult pig. We filled the entrance with boulders, and wandered 

 away. Returning anon with some muscular Zulus, we dug 

 vigorously for a couple of hours or so. Eventually we came 

 across the snake coiled up in front of a pile of eggs at the end of 

 the hole, in the lair formerly occupied by the Aard-vark. We 

 captured the mother Python alive, and counted the eggs, which 

 numbered forty-eight. Breaking open two we found them to be 

 partly hatched. There were indications which showed the 

 Python had been lying coiled up in front of her eggs for some 

 time. 



We kept a large Python in captivity in the Port Elizabeth 

 Museum, during the month of November, and it laid a batch of 

 forty-four eggs. These eggs were elliptical and about the size of 

 those of a goose, and contained a yellowish substance similar to the 

 yolk of fowls' eggs, but lighter in colour. They weighed 5| ounces. 

 The " shell " was not hard and brittle like the shells of birds' eggs. 

 It was soft and leathery in texture, and creamy-white in colour. 



When the young Pythons hatch out, the mother takes no 

 apparent heed of them, and moves off, her maternal duties being 

 ended. The young scatter in different directions, their instinct 

 impelling them to seek for food, which at this time consists of 

 small fry in the shape of mice, rats, birds, lizards, frogs, etc. 



An Adventure. 



One day, when meandering wearily along with a gun under 

 my arm amongst the rugged, rocky, shrub-covered mountains in 

 Natal, I kicked my toe against something soft and tumbled over 

 on to it, when, to my horror, that big soft mass began to wriggle 

 and uncoil, and for a moment or two I saw nothing but a succes- 

 sion of huge coils. Then those coils resolved themselves into the 

 form of a great Python about twenty feet long. He made off 



