5+ 



COLUBKINE SERPENTS.- 



-REPTILES.- 



-BOAS. 



it to death. When thoroughly flattened out, it slowly 

 begins to swallow it, commenciug always with the head. 

 If the animal it has devoured be large, the act occupies 

 some considerable time, and the huge creature then 

 sinks into a state of lethargic stupor, and may easily be 

 mastered. Boas may be tamed as well as Rattlesnakes, 

 and both in America and Africa have had rehgious 

 rites and homage paid to them. 



The species of the family Buidcc are divided into two 

 large sections : — I, Those which have the tail strongly 

 prehensile, the spurs large and exposed, the head 

 elongate, distinct from the neck, and the muzzle trun- 

 cated. The eyes are nocturnal, the pupil being oblong, 

 erect. II. Those which have the tail very short and 

 only slightly prehensile, or, in some, not prehensile 

 at all. The head in these is very small, and not 

 distinct from the body. The spurs are small, in some 

 being quite distinctly visible externally, but in others 

 hidden under the skin. 



Ill the first division we have two subfamilies, the 

 Pythons (Pythonina) and the Boas {Boiiia). 



The P^'thons are distinguished by their having the 

 plates nnder the tail (subcaudal plates) in two rows; 

 distinct intermaxillary or canine teeth ; the upper part 

 of the orbit formed by a particular bone ; and the 

 plates on the lips (labial plates) more or less deeply 

 pitted. 



The Boas are distinguished by their subcaudal 

 plates being entire, in only one row, and no inter- 

 maxillary or canine teeth at all. The Pythons are all 

 natives of the Old World. The greater number of the 

 Boas are natives of America. 



THE KOCK SNAKE {PijAon mofora«) —represented 



in Plate 5, fig. 1, Plate 8, figs. 2, 2a (skeleton and 

 skull), and fig. 15 annexed — is one of the most remark- 

 able species of this subfamily, and is a native of 

 India, and some of the large islands, as Java, &c. It 

 generally occurs from seven to thirteen feet in length, 

 but even Schlegel mentions having himself seen one 

 that measured twenty feet. The colours are brilliant 

 and lively. A pale yellowish coffee-brown colour pre- 

 dominates on the upper parts, losing itself in numerous 

 gray marblings on the flanks, which scarcely allows the 

 beautiful yellow colour of the ground to be seen, but 

 which spreads uniformly over the belly. The head is 

 variegated with red ; the muzzle is marked with a 

 square brownish-black spot, another is seen above the 

 eye, and a third, broad and club-shaped, is prolonged 

 from beb.ind the eye to the neck. The iris is of a 

 golden yellow colour. The adults are more brilliantly 

 coloured than the young. The head is distinct from 

 the body, is tolerably broad, elongate, depressed on the 

 summit, and terminates in a narrow rounded muzzle. 

 The nostrils, large and round, are slightly distant from 

 each other, and are directed backwards. The eye is 

 nearly lateral, and directed slightly forwards. The tail 

 is much smaller in circumference than the trunk, and 

 is rather short and conical. On the continent of India 

 this serpent is known to the natives by the name of 

 the Bora or Pcdda Poda, but by the English is caUod 

 the Rock Snake. Russell, who describes it, says he 

 never saw one exceeding ten feet in length, and states 

 that he has observed them twisting themselves round 

 tne arms of the snakemen, who merely complained of 

 the arm being benumbed by their grasp. In the island 

 of Java, however, they would appear to grow to a much 



Fig. 15. 



Head of the Rock Snake (Python moluinisj. 



larger size. M. Eeinwardt, as Schlegel informs us, 

 brought from thence to Europe a skeleton of this 

 species which exceeded seventeen feet. " The Malays 

 of Java," he says, " call it Oular-Sawa or Oular-Rava. 

 It inhabits low, shady, marshy, or mundated places, 

 and appears to delight m rice-fields. It is said to reach 

 the length of twenty -five feet, but the largest I have 

 ever seen only measured seventeen. The natives draw 

 a good omen from the neighbourhood of this serpent. 

 I have sometimes found in its stomach the hoofs of 

 deer, and it attacks also pigs." M. Boie, a corre- 

 spondent of Schlegel, and who has been mentioned 

 before, thus writes : — " This Python sometimes attains 

 an enormous size. It attacks pigs, and the deer called 

 Muntjac, but human beings have nothing to fear from 



it. Its muscular power is astonishing. An individual, 

 the thickness of a man's thigh, which had just been 

 taken, escaped from a cage made for containing wild 

 animals, breaking the iron bars which closed the 

 entrance. Individuals of such a size, however, are 

 very rare." Specimens of this species have not unfre- 

 quently been brought alive to Europe, and not long ago 

 four examples of it were to be seen in the Zoological 

 Gardens, Regent's Park. An account of the habits of 

 some which were kept alive in Paris has been given us 

 by Schlegel. They were from seven to ten and thir- 

 teen feet long, and were brought from Bengal. In 

 their general disposition they were mild and gentle, 

 and very slow in their movements, even although pro- 

 voked. They were kept in a box enveloped in flannel, 



