CONVOLUTED SERPENTS. 319 



It is in addition a very tedious one ; the skin adhe- 

 ring to the muscles with great tenacity, and needing 

 to be detached with a knife or scalpel, the operator 

 working round and round. 



It is currently reported that when the Yellow Boa 

 pairs, which is in spring, others of the same species 

 approach, and twist themselves with and over the 

 pair, until an immense knot or entwined mass is 

 formed. Knots composed of many individuals are 

 certainly often found, and killed without difficulty, 

 as they are then very inert. Mr. Hill, of Spanish- 

 town, once saw five Boas lying together dead on the 

 road, which he was informed had been killed when 

 entwined under such circumstances. This knotting 

 is called by the negroes " cooting," perhaps from the 

 Spanish coito. A black man, near Bluefields, going 

 to his daily labour, found a large number thus con- 

 torted, and went on killing one after another, until 

 the fetor proceeding from them made him quite faint, 

 and compelled him to turn back homeward. 



It is possible that the vast convoluted host of Ser- 

 pents seen by Humboldt in the Savannahs of Izacubo 

 in Guiana may have had a similar origin : the motive 

 which he suggests seems scarcely consistent with the 

 known habits of those reptiles.* 



* Dr. Bancroft mentions this habit of congregating in twisted 

 heaps, with some variation. " I shall also mention on the authority 

 of some planters of credit, that a number of Yellow Snakes, as ten or 

 twelve, are not unfrequently met with in the woody parts of the 

 island with their tails twisted together, but the rest of their bodies 

 free. This chiefly occurs about April and May, at their breeding 

 season as is supposed. When thus surprised, they will raise their 

 tails, and hiss, and it takes them some time before they can unwind 

 p 4 



