1894.] ophidia or trinidad, b. w. i. 505 



iu water and show very little more than the nostrils and eyes above 

 the surface. Its body is thick and powerful. A fine young speci- 

 men lying before us as we write is of a dark greenish-brown colour, 

 and its back is ornamented with a series of ovally-shaped bluish- 

 black spots, arranged more or less regularly in pairs, sometimes 

 joining and then exhibiting the appearance of an irregular hour- 

 glass-shaped stripe across the back ; towards the tail these spots 

 become round. The sides are marked with irregularly proportioned 

 spots, some of them dark with yellow centres. The under surface 

 is mottled without pattern in dark buff and black. The upper 

 surface and sides of the tail are much lighter than the rest of the 

 body. The black mark, so characteristic of all the Boa Constrictors 

 we have ever seen, which extends from the eye backwards to the 

 junction of the lower and upper jaws, is a conspicuous feature in 

 Bunectes murinus. Its length is about 4 feet. This specimen, 

 however, is not a native of Trinidad, and is one of five received 

 from Pedesnales, Venezuela, on the 12th July, 1892. It was 

 captured on the 1st July of the same year. The mother, which was 

 22 feet long, was on that date observed on the bank of one of the 

 mouths of the Orinoco, giving birth to young ones. She was shot, 

 and the 30 young ones, with the exception of 8, were killed. 

 These eight were sent to Mr. Urich, three dying in transit. 

 When they were received they had still traces of the umbilical 

 cord. In length they were about 20 inches. They were placed in 

 a zinc tank, with a thick branch to climb out upon. They 

 habitually lay on the log, but upon the slightest disturbance slid 

 quietly into the water. On the 22nd July one of them took a 

 mouse, but the killing occurred when the snakes were not under 

 observation. When in water they often anchored themselves by a 

 turn of the tail round the submerged portion of the branch. At 

 other times they would individually roll themselves into a tight 

 ball and float on the surface. On August 1st one of them changed 

 its skin. Eventually all died except the one under observation. 

 On September 14, upon two mice being thrown into the tank, one 

 of them swam across the water. A young Anaconda darted across 

 the whole breadth, seized it, and constricted and swallowed it 

 underneath the water. On March 20, 1893, it killed and ate a 

 three-quarter grown common rat. On May 10th it killed two 

 one-quarter grown rats. The first was sitting on the edge of the 

 tank, and the snake, instead of seizing it with his teeth as these 

 reptiles usually do, slid up over its back very gently and quietly, 

 and then threw round it several coils without once biting it. 

 Since then this Anaconda has progressed rapidly and is now in 

 splendid condition. It kills full-grown rats, sometimes launching 

 its head out of the water a distance of 15 inches to seize them. 

 The victims are always dragged back into the water, and there 

 constricted and swallowed. After killing them the snake comes 

 up 1o take air, but does not do so again until after the prey is 

 swallowed, a process which it assists with a coil of the body round 

 the corpse of the rat. Gorging occupies from 10 minutes to 



