210 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Dumeril and Bibron), fierce but handsome, is rarer still. 

 The Jamaica Boa or Yellow Snake, Chilobothrus inornatus (Rein- 

 hardt), is common enough in that island, and tolerably well 

 represented in collections; at Regent's Park it has been bred, 

 and has crossed with the Pale-headed Tree Boa. It grows to no 

 great size, and is a spiteful brute, but it will usually feed and 

 thrive. 



Thirdly, we have the Anaconda or Water Boa (Eunectes 

 murhuts), also a native of tropical America; it is known as 

 kamudi in Guiana and succurhuba in Brazil. Since specimens 

 have been killed which have been measured between thirty and 

 forty feet in length, it seems probable that this constrictor attains 

 a larger size than any other member of the serpent tribe. Its 

 partiality for water is well known, and in confinement it will be 

 found to lie in the tank more than half the time ; when out of the 

 water it is generally very restless. Although extremely savage 

 when first caught, it soon becomes tame in the majority of 

 instances, and lias been known to evince marked discriminative 

 affection towards particular people ; tolerably hardy, though of 

 capricious appetite, and bearing captivity well, it is a grand 

 creature, with its glittering golden scales relieved by circular 

 black spots, and is possessed of immense strength. This is the 

 snake to ferret out all the chinks and spaces into which it can 

 shove its blunt nose, and to test the weak places in a cage. 

 When it is at home it costs rather more than its near relative the 

 Boa, and the price would, I should think, bear a somewhat pro- 

 portionate increase on this side of the Atlantic. A large 

 Anaconda has been kept at the Zoo for eighteen years, and is in 

 good health at the present time. 



Still, snakes are luxuries for which there is no great demand, 

 and those who have them for sale are as a rule very glad to get 

 rid of them, whatever the species may be, for a reasonable sum — 

 something under a five-pound note — unless the size renders them 

 of additional market value as objects of curiosity for exhibitions. 

 There is no definite tariff for rarity, nor indeed is it taken much 

 into account ; and the price of any snake under six feet will not 

 be ruinous. With these constrictors, as among rapacious birds, 

 the female is rather larger than the male. No difference in 

 coloration between the sexes which can be reduced to any law 

 has been observed, even in the most variable species, but the 



