THE LARGEST SERPENTS 



341 



scheme, and the very large oval patches of light 

 color, divided by black bands, that are laid along 

 its back with regularity and precision. The 

 sides are beautifully marked by light-colored 

 diamonds and bars. 



When at home, this serpent feeds upon pacas, 

 agoutis, capybaras, tamanduas, young peccaries 

 and tapirs, and any bird that is large enough to 

 justify attention. Considering the excellent 

 climbing powers of the Boa Constrictor, and the 

 dulness of certain SoTith American monkeys, it 

 is highly probable that monkeys furnish many 

 a meal for this serpent. The sloth is protected 

 in two ways. It prefers the small and w r eak outer 

 branches of a tree, and it moves so slowly and un- 

 ostentatiously a Boa would be long in finding one. 



If a twelve-foot Boa once wrapped itself 

 around an unarmed man, it undoubtedly could 

 suffocate him, or crush him to death, but it would 

 be impossible for it to swallow him. There is 

 at hand no authentic record of a Boa Con- 

 strictor ever having killed a man or a horse. In 

 South America I was assured by native hunters 

 that Boas and anacondas swallow antlered deer, 

 but when direct proof of this was called for, it 

 never came. 



The Anaconda 1 is the great water-constrictor 

 of South America, and it so loves the aqueous 

 element that some captive specimens never leave 

 their bathing-tanks unless forced to do so. This 

 serpent is strongly marked for identification by 

 the very large black spots, round or nearly so, 

 which cover its back from head to tail, laid on a 

 dark olive ground. Sometimes these are ar- 

 ranged in pairs, and suggest dumb-bells. 



This species attains very great size, and being 

 fully equal to the reticulated python of the East 

 Indies, it is one of the largest of living serpents. 

 Of course it can hardly happen that specimens 

 of the largest size would find their way into zoo- 

 logical gardens. The largest thus far exhibited 

 in the Zoological Park measured IS feet 6 inches, 

 and came from the Berbice River, British Guiana. 

 In the British Museum there is a stuffed specimen 

 which is 29 feet long. 



In British Guiana I was assured by local hunters 

 that the "Camudie," as this serpent is commonly 

 called, often attains a length of 35 feet. There 

 is, however, no proof that it exceeds 30 feet; 

 and any traveller or observer who has the good 

 ' Eu-nec'tes mu-ri'nus. 



fortune to meet with a specimen exceeding that 

 length will do well to back up his tape measure 

 with either the preserved skin or skeleton. One 

 snake-skin is more convincing than a hundred 

 snake-stories. 



I believe the delta of the Orinoco is the north- 

 ern limit of the Anaconda, where it is called the 

 "Culebra de Agua," and regarded with pro- 

 found respect. It inhabits the Ciuianas and Bra- 

 zil, and probably extends to the head-waters of 

 the Amazon, in eastern Peru. Of its regular 

 food, the capybara (a water-loving rodent, as 

 large as a good-sized hog) undoubtedly stands 

 first, followed by the tapir, otter, deer and large 

 water-birds generally. 



The Reticulated Python, 3 of the Malay 

 Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo, is the largest 



liM 



YELLOW ANACONDA. 

 Eunectes notaeus. 



serpent of the Old World, and the only rival of 

 the anaconda for first place. A surprisingly 

 large number of specimens of this species are 

 captured alive each year, and sold to dealers in 

 w r ild animals. As a result, the largest serpent 

 with which the animal-loving public becomes 

 familiar in the zoological gardens and parks is 

 this handsome Python. Specimens exceeding 

 20 feet in length, and running up to 25 feet, are 

 really common in the possession of the animal 

 dealers of Singapore, but about three-fourths of 

 them die from lack of proper care before they are 

 finally disposed of in Europe or America, and 

 placed on exhibition. 



The largest specimen which thus far has died 

 in the Zoological Park measured 22 feet 10 inches, 

 and weighed 170 pounds; but a larger unmeas- 

 ured specimen is now living there. 

 2 Py'thon re-tic-u-la'tus. 



