THE NEW REPTILE HOUSE, ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. 357 



less than a couple of hundred pounds. Having regard to the 

 dangerous use which the creature can make of its teeth and tail, 

 a moderate blow from the latter sufficing to knock a man's legs 

 from under him very speedily, it was necessary to exercise great 

 caution in moving him. Moreover, the animal's weight made it 

 no easy matter to carry it, even when firmly secured. Having 

 been drawn up to the sides of the cage by means of a lasso round 

 the neck, a second noose was slipped round the hinder quarters 

 and the jaws bound together; when, in spite of all resistance, the 

 huge creature was carried off in stout sacking and deposited in 

 the new tank, where it was then released from bondage. 



Even more difficult to move, from its much greater length and 

 superior weight (about two hundredweight), was the huge South 

 American boa, the Anaconda, Eunectes murium. After a good 

 deal of trouble it was induced to enter a box-trap in its cage 

 in the old snake-house, from which it was transferred into an 

 enormous bag, which was then tied up and carried triumphantly 

 to the new Reptile House. But on being placed in one of the 

 largest of the new cages, it proved almost as hard to get the 

 creature out of the bag as it was to get it in, and, as may be 

 supposed, it required something more than an ordinary shake to 

 eject a writhing, wriggling mass weighing two hundredweight 

 from a sack of extraordinary dimensions in which, apparently, it 

 preferred to remain concealed. 



In a similar manner the great Python, Python reticulatus, was 

 transported to his new abode, in which he soon displayed himself 

 to great advantage by uncoiling and extending himself to his 

 entire length of twenty -five feet, giving the spectators an excellent 

 view of a really magnificent creature. 



The smaller snakes were of course much more readily trans- 

 ported when once caught, but great caution, naturally, had to be 

 exercised in dealing with the poisonous species. The modus 

 operandi was to drive them into boxes with sliding doors, which 

 were carried bodily to the new cages, and the slides then with- 

 drawn by means of a long iron rod. 



In this way all were at length safely removed, and now 

 appear to be quite at home in their new quarters. The fine 

 roomy cages in which they can now move about with more 

 freedom, climbing the tree-trunks which are provided for them, 

 enable the spectators to obtain a much better view of them than 



