TREATMENT OF SNAKES IN CAPTIVITY. 209 



Zoo, which is twenty-five feet long and weighs over sixteen 

 stone. 



The common Boa {Boa constrictor), inhabiting South and 

 Central America and the West India Islands, is the next most 

 available subject to become a denizen of our big cage. Its 

 beauty of hue and pattern, which impelled Laurenti to name it 

 Constrictor formosissimus, far exceeds that of the last genus, 

 but it is not so hardy. It is readily tamed, those of a light 

 ground-colour being generally quieter than those which exhibit a 

 deeper red, while the latter perhaps feed better; among all 

 kinds of snakes different idiosyncracies of temper are shewn by 

 individuals, whatever the prevailing characteristics of the race 

 may be. The Boa is viviparous, and has bred in captivity more 

 than once ; several of the celebrated brood of June 30th, 1877, 

 at the Zoological Gardens fell to my share. One only survives 

 at the present time ; she is as tractable and inoffensive as the 

 guinea-pigs and rabbits upon which she feeds, and is so free 

 from nervousness that a child might play with her — and does, 

 very often. Boas and Pythons are both liable to tumours, which 

 will be described in a subsequent chapter among the other 

 diseases incidental to ophidian flesh. Common Boas are some- 

 times advertised for sale under the title of Harlequin Snakes ; if 

 purchased at a naturalist's emporium they will cost from two to 

 ten pounds each, according to the size, but the people who bring 

 them home to sell do not receive a fifth of that price for them 

 from the directors of menageries. They may be bought in the 

 market-places of most of the cities on the sea-coast of South 

 America, secured in wicker baskets ; ranging between half a yard 

 and twelve or fifteen feet, and priced accordingly (when the 

 demand has been gradually and vociferously reduced from its 

 original exorbitance to the lowest point) from two shillings to 

 twenty. Jiboya is the native name. A poor starved little Ribbon, 

 bought in Pernambuco when it was not much over a foot in 

 length, now measures nearly five, and is as thick as my arm. 



The Peruvian and King Boas (Boa eques and imperator) and 

 three Tree Boas (Corallus hortulanus, Epicrates cenchris, and 

 Epicrates angulifer), all hailing from tropical regions in the New 

 World, are rare, but are now and then met with as " dark 

 varieties " in the lists of dealers, or in the hands of those who 

 catch them. The Madagascar Boa (Pelophilus madagascariensis, 



p 



