THE DRAMA OF LIFE 



17 



several species of ants keep Aphides or green flies as their 

 cows {vacccB formicarum as Linnaeus said), utilizing the 

 sweet fluid which they exude when they are stroked. 

 The ants take some care of the Aphides and resent inter- 

 ference with their property. 



Milking ant or aphis is dainty feeding ; contrast it with a 

 python's meals. A specimen of Python reticulata, about 

 25 feet long, which was observed in Hagenbeck's zoological 

 garden, swallowed a swan of 18 lb. and two days later a 

 roebuck of 67 lb. Another swallowed within two daysi^ 

 two roebuck of 28 lb. and 39 lb., and soon thereafter a 

 chamois of 71 lb. In another case a goat of 84 lb. in 

 weight was engulfed, and took about nine days to digest. 

 The pharynx can be dilated to a width of over a yard. 

 After a meal the pythons remain inert, and it should be 

 noted that although they often eat much, they do not need 

 to eat often ! Two of them remained in good condition 

 from spring to November without eating at all. 



The voracity of some of the Deep-Sea Fishes goes beyond 



Pig. 6. — ^A Deep-Sea Fish (Chiasmodon riiger), whose distended stomach 

 contains a larger fish. {After Giinther.) 



