BOA 



of boa, called, in the Indian language, bungarum pamah, 

 pada'ai cootoo, geedi paragoodo, or in the young ftate cobra 

 monil, and the horatta pam. Thtfe are the fpecies, fafciata, 

 viperina, llneata, and horatta of Dr. Shaw's zoology. Dr. 

 Shaw has hkewiie increafed the number of the bo3? by the 

 addition of a fifth fpecies, crotalus mutus of Linnaeus, which 

 he is induced to remove from the crotali to this genus, 

 bccaufe it is not furnifncd with a genuine rattle like the reft 

 of that tribe. 



But the French writers of the prefent day have regarded 

 the anangement of the Swedilh naturaliil in the amphibious 

 clafs of animals with much lefs indulgence, their alterations 

 tending to little lefs than the fiibverfion of his fyftem. The 

 boa genus, aseitabHfnedby Linnseus, is obviouflv defective, in 

 one point at leaft, where nature had herfelf prefcribed thofe 

 characters which ought not to have efcaped the dlfcrimina- 

 tion of the naturalift. Nothing, we mult admit, can be more 

 improper, if it could have been avoided, than to include in the 

 fame natural family both the vcnemous and inoffenfive kinds 

 of ferpents ; or, in other words, to unite, under one head, 

 thofe which, having fangs for the conveyance of poifon into 

 the wound infliftcd with their bite, are highly dangerous, 

 and fuch as have no fangs for this purpofc, and are there- 

 fore comparatively hannlcfs. The firft innovation upon the 

 Linniean genera was made by Lacepede, w'lofe method 

 has been followed by others ; and ladlv, by Latreille, with 

 fome improvements, in his Natural Hiilory of Reptiles. 



Latreille retains among his boEe thofe only of the Linnzan 

 fpecies which have no venemous fangs ; for the reception of 

 the remainder he eftablifhes the new genus Scytale. 

 This genus forms an intermediate link between the two 

 Linnaean genera boa, and crotalus ; having, in common with 

 both, the abdominal plates, and either plates alone, or plates 

 and fcales beneath the tail ; the poifonous fangs removing 

 them from the bose, and the naked tail from the crotali, or 

 fnakes that have a rattle at the extremity of that part. The 

 boss of Latreille contain the following fpecies : le boa dev'in 

 (conftriftor, Linn.), le boa giant (a fpecies hitherto con- 

 founded with the former), U toa bojoli (ooa canina, Linn, 

 and Lacepede), leboa hipnale (hipnale, Linn.)./f boa eenchr'ii 

 (cenclins, Linn.), U boa enhycre (enydris, Linn.), le boa 

 o/iAn'f (ophrias, Linn.), /if boafcytale (Icytale, Gmel. Scheu- 

 cher), le bca brods (hortulana, Linn.), le hoa rr,tti)ore (Seba, 

 V. 2. pi. 29. I.), and le boa turc, a native of the Grecian 

 illands, delcri!)ed by Olivier in his " Voyage dans I'Einpire 

 Ottoman. " — Thus the Linnxan boa comar.'r'ix, a poilor.ous 

 fpecies, le fcytale a groin of this writer, is removed from 

 among the buse to the genus Scytale, together with ano- 

 ther fpecies not before delcnbcd, le fiylale a tcte plate, and 

 the four new fpecies mentioned by Dr. Rufltl belong un- 

 queftionably to the fame genus, being all of the vcnemo'.;s 

 kind. We have, therefore, fix fpecies of the Scytales 

 confounded with the natural family of boa. 



The bo3e, taken coUctlively, exceed in magnitude all the 

 other tribe of ferpents. The powers of certain fpecies, 

 like their ftature, are prodigious. Tiiefe enormous kinds 

 are principally the inhabitants of the burning regions of 

 Africa, whofe fame, in this rcfpeft, was celebrated in ages 

 of remote antiquity. Hilloi-y fpeaks of ihtfe tremendous 

 ferpents in terms that ftagger credibility ; but travellers of our 

 own times, who have had the opportunity of obferving thefe 

 creatures in their native haunts, and whofe rcktions deferve 

 every rational degree of credit, afford fo much collateral 

 evidence, that we are not allov.'ed to rcjedt,the authority of 

 the ancients in many of the moll material points. When 

 Valerius M,;ximus relates, upon the anthcity of Livy, 

 the conteft between an army of Romans under Atiilius 



BOA 



Regulus, and an enormous fnake, that difputed with them, 

 for a confiderable time, the pafiage acrofs the river Bagdara 

 in Africa, and was at lall only overcome, after kiUing many 

 of the foldiers, by means of the battering machines employed 

 in attacking fortrefTcs, we are inchned to fufpeft the whole 

 as fabulous. If. ho«ever, we reflect at the fame time upon 

 the fize and power of this monfter, the fl-;in of which, when 

 taken off, was 120 feet in length, we need not be aftonilhed 

 at the refiftance it was capable of making. Something muft. 

 be allowed on this occafion for the luxuriance of fancy, or 

 the fictions of the battle between the Phoenicians, and the 

 facred fnake of Mars, would almoft ihrink from comparifon 

 with this furprifing adventure . 



lUc volubilibus fqnamofos nexibus orbes 

 Torquet, et immenfos faltu finuatur in arcus : 

 Ac media plus parte leves erectus in auras 

 Defpicit omne nemus : 



Nee mora : Phoenicas (five illi tela parabant, 

 Sive fugam ; five ipfe timor prohibebat utrumque) 

 Occupat ; hos morfu, longis complexibus illos ; 

 Hos necat alRatos funefti tabe veneni. Ovid. 



The ferpentmentioned by Livy is beheved to have been an 

 overgrown creature of the boa genus, the conftr'tdor of Lin> 

 nseus ; a kind which, from the fuperiority of its fize, is em- 

 phatically denominated the " King of Serpents." This 

 fpecies, of which we fliail fpeak more largely in another 

 place (vide Constrictor), is found occafionally in Africa, 

 India, and South America, from 20 to 30 feet in length, 

 and even more ; and of a ftrength fo great, as to be able to 

 dcftroy moil of the larger animals by the violence of its 

 preffure only. We have feen the iliins of this particular, 

 fpecies almoft 20 feet in length, and of a bulk proportionate. 

 Among the articles of Natural K'fto'-j-, collected in South 

 America for the National Mufeum at Paris, but intercepted, 

 and fold in this country, there were feveral fpecimens ; 

 dried (liins of this kind are a'fo prcferved in the Britilh and 

 Leverian mufeums, and in moil of the public mufeums on the 

 continent, which at once remove every unreafonable degree 

 of fufpicion as to the aftual exiilence of fuch a monftrous 

 kind of ferpent. 



If, therefore, according to the ideas of latter writers, the 

 tme boas are deftitnte of poifonous fangs, nature has more 

 than amply fupplied the deficiency by the powers they are 

 endowed with for the dedruftion of their prey. The 

 elephant, the rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, and the lion, 

 are the only animals that can refill them with fuccefs. The 

 Hag, the leopard, and even the buffalo, entangled once withia 

 the coils of the bbdy of the boa, mull fall an eafy victim to its 

 voracity. The boaeare, among ferpents, what the elephant and 

 thehon are among quadrupeds : like theelephant, they fuipafs 

 the reft of the ferpent race by their fize ; and, like the lion, 

 excel them in their addrefs, their courrge, and their force- 

 They feldom attack thtir prey by artifice, decoying their 

 unwary adverfary, and, by a wound as fudden as infenfible, 

 pa'alyzing its effcrts with the deadly torpor of their poifon. 

 Confident in their powers, they attack them openly ; oppofe 

 their ftrength to the refiftance of their enemy with ardent 

 intrepidity ; and when they conquer, it is by the manifeft 

 fuperiori.ty of bodily vigour over that of their^ opponent. — 

 It (hould be cbferved, that thefe traits of charader relate 

 only to the largeft of the boa genus, of which no mere than 

 two fpecies are correctly afcertained, although there is 

 reafou to believe the number muft be greater. Much con- 

 fufion prevails among travellers who have defcribed thefe 

 ferpents : they have entered largely into the prodigies of 

 their liiftory, without paying any due regard to the defcrip- 



tioa 



