58 



Sekpents 



-EEPTILES- 



-CoLUBUUNE SEltPi£XTS. 



tlie description of plants, for instance, and various 

 mamraiferons quadrupeds, &c., the account given by 

 tliese writers is often very correct, and not at all 

 exaggerated. Why should they then, when they come 

 to treat of serpents, alligators, &c., launch out into 

 what appears to us now-a-days to be such highly- 

 coloured tales ? Dr. Shaw in his lectures has noticed 

 this, and says that it is probable that many ages ago 

 much larger specimens of such animals might have 

 occurred than are to be found at the present day, the 

 increased population and cultivation of most countries 

 having tended more and more to lessen the number of 



Fig. 16 



-o 



The Anaconda (Eunectes murinus). 



such creatures. It is the same in our own country with 

 other classes of animals. Take, for instance, the account 

 given us by anglers and zoologists of repute as to the 

 size and weight of our salmon in the river Tweed only 

 a few years ago, and compare them with the dimen- 

 sions of the largest individuals taken now. Formerly 

 salmon were taken in that river " weighing seventy or 

 even eighty pounds. Such, however, are never seen 

 now, owing to the perfection of the means of capturing 

 them at the mouth of the river, by which the chances 

 are very greatlj' against any fish escaping the various 

 dangers by which it is environed, for such a succession 

 of years as is likely to admit of its attaining to its full 

 dimensions."* So we suspect it may have been with 

 reptiles in former ages, living in the wild uncultivated 

 tracts of marsh and forest lands in America and Africa. 

 Undisturbed by man and enjoying abundance of food, 

 they acquired a size and bulk which they are seldom 

 or ever permitted now to attain. The Anaconda 

 appears to be spread over a considerable portion of 

 intertropical America, being common in Brazil and in 

 Guiana. It is of a rather more slender form than the 

 Boa constrictor, the body not being so thick, and the 

 tail being only al>out a fifth of the total length. The 

 head, too, is much smaller and thinner, and nearly of 

 the same size as tlie body, and the muzzle is elongated 

 and rounded at the tip. Tlie nostrils are placed on 

 the summit of the muzzle, close to the extremity, and 

 are very small, which marks the animal as an inhabi- 

 tant of the water. It is also less varied in colour than 

 tlie Boa, being, on the upper parts, of a fuliginous 

 brown shading into olive on the head, with two rows 



• Baird's Cyclopaedia of the Natural Sciences. Art. Sal- 

 monuiee. 



of round black spots extending along the back. Under- 

 neath it is of an ochre-yellow colour, and the flanks, 

 which are of the same hue, are marked with a double 

 row of eye-shaped spots. The Prince of Netiwied, in 

 his " Travels in Brazil," has recorded a number o( 

 interesting facts connected with the history of the 

 Anaconda. The native name for it in Brazil, he 

 says, is Cucuriuha or Cucuriu. Speaking of its size, 

 he says he has seen individuals twenty feet long, but 

 that the inhabitants assured him that it arrives at a 

 much greater size in uncultivated and uninhabited 

 places. It passes the greater part of the day in the 

 water, sometimes swimming with 

 great facility, at others allowing 

 itself to float on the surface and 

 be carried down the stream by the 

 current without exerting the least 

 motion. It dives, he says, with 

 great dexterity, and often remains 

 a long time at the bottom of tlie 

 water, where it reposes, if it is not 

 deep, only exposing its head at the 

 surface. At other times it lies 

 stretched out on the banks of a 

 river, on the sand or on trunks ol 

 trees, where it patiently waits for 

 its prey coming to quench its thirst 

 at the water's edge. Its principal 

 food consists of small mammalia, 

 such as the capybaras, the agoutis, and pacas ; and it 

 is said that it even preys upon fishes. Their pairing 

 season is from November to February, at which period 

 they are most frequently to be met with, and may be 

 heard uttering a dull bellowing sound. It is a very 

 timid animal, and is always on the watch, so that it can 

 only be surprised by chance. The natives kill it when- 

 ever they can, either by shooting it with a gun or bow 

 and arrow when in the water, or by beating it with 

 cudgels if they meet it on dry land, for its movements 

 then are very slow. It is tenacious of life, and the 

 body has been seen to move after it has been disem- 

 bowelled and the skin stripped off. The flesh is eaten 

 by some of the natives ; the fat is melted down and 

 used for various purposes, as in rheumatic pains, 

 sprains, &c. ; and the skin is made into shoes, port- 

 manteaus, &c. The Anaconda appears to be vivi- 

 parous. Schlegel received a specimen from Surinam, 

 which upon opening he found to contain twenty eggs, 

 each containing a foetus, nearly quite developed, from 

 one foot to eighteen inches long, and possessing very 

 bright tints, but similar to those of the mother. 



The specific name murinus {Eunectes murinus) was 

 given to it because it was believed to prey chiefly upon 

 mice, and the French naturalists have adopted the 

 same name, and call it the Boa rativora or rat-eating 

 Boa. But though these small animals may form the 

 principal food of the young Anacondas, the adults are 

 powerful enough to attack and overpower much larger 

 game. One of its provincial names is £1 Trarja 

 Venado or Deer-swallower, and sufSciently indicates 

 the idea the natives have of the nature of its food. 



THE ABOMA {Epicrates cenchria) is another species 

 of Boa, but mucli smaller than the last mentioned. It 



