REPTILES IN CAPTIVITY 181 
the case of large animals the snake first of all covers the head 
with saliva so as to make it easy to swallow. It then en- 
circles the animal with its tail-end and gradually presses it 
downwards into its mouth, at the same time moving its jaws 
to and fro. In swallowing, the snake’s jaws distend like an 
india-rubber bag, and to an extent which, unless seen, ap- 
pears incredible. Now and then the snake will pause for 
as long as ten or twelve minutes for a rest. These pauses 
I particularly noticed in the case of the reptile swallowing 
the Siberian goat as above recorded. Since this incident I 
have seen a case even more remarkable, in which another 
snake devoured a goat weighing ninety-three pounds in 
about an hour and a half. 
When one looks through the glass fronts of their cages 
and sees them apparently so lazy and devoid of vitality, it is 
difficult to imagine the great strength and swiftness which all. 
these animals possess. In spite of the great precautions 
which one always has to take in dealing with snakes, 
there still remains a considerable element of danger when 
anything has to be done with them. I have had many 
hundreds of giant snakes through my hands, in the most 
literal sense, in the course of my life, and have often been 
bitten by them. It is, however, not the bite of these large 
creatures that is most to be feared, but their powerful mus- 
cular coils. 
A very serious adventure, in which the reptiles appeared 
in all their native savagery, occurred at Stellingen in the early 
summer of 1904. We were preparing to pack up four great 
specimens of the species Python reteculatus, varying in length 
from twenty to twenty-six feet, to be sent to the St. Louis 
Exhibition. Myson Heinrich, having made all the necessary 
preparations, went to open the door of the cage, but no sooner 
had he opened it than the four reptiles, as though by a pre- 
arranged plan, flew at him with wide-open jaws. One of them 
very nearly succeeded in coiling itself round him in spite of 
his efforts, and if it had succeeded his death would have been 
