586 MR. E. G. BOULEXGER ON 



As an instance of this, it is, I think, worth recording that one 

 of our large Indian Pythons on one occasion did not take a 

 rabbit which had been given it at 4 o'clock on a winter's after- 

 noon, until 9 o'clock next morning, when, as was only to be 

 expected after 17 hours in a temperature of nearly 80°, it was 

 in an almost putrid condition. 



Another point of peculiar interest is that while tame rats are 

 acceptable to a large number of the snakes, wild rats are seldom 

 taken, and even when accepted are not digested but brought up 

 again a few days later. That this should be the case with rats 

 caught outside the Gardens is understandable, but the wild i-ats 

 I refer to are those caught in the Gardens and ai'e therefore, 

 living as they do on the remnants of the food provided for the 

 exhibits, comparatively clean feeders. 



The experience of Mr. H. ]^. Ridley who, writing of the 

 pythons in the Botanical Gardens in Singapore, stated that small 

 specimens fed about once a month, large ones once in six to 

 nine months, did not coincide with that of Dr. Mitchell and 

 Mr. Pocock, who recorded the fact that the majority of specimens 

 fed with the greatest regularity during the summer months, 

 some only refusing food when about to shed their skins. As 

 may be seen below, my experience with the large snakes likewise 

 dijSers from that of Mr. Ridley : two large specimens feeding on 

 as many as thirty occasions during the year, the longest period 

 of fasting amounting to just over a month ; while of the smaller 

 specimens it will be noted that a Boa which did not fast for a 

 longer period than three weeks, fed on thirty-five occasions in 

 the course of a year. 



The table on p. 587 gives a detailed record of the feeding of a 

 number of healthy specimens over a period of one year. 



