126 A Visit to the Python in the Zoological Gardens. 



in consequence of the extension of civilization in the districts 

 where the species is found. 



The classical stories of mighty snakes and serpents are all 

 outdone in the event which has been, of late, so attractive in 

 the Zoological Gardens. The sea-serpents which Aristotle 

 describes as upsetting the triremes (1. viii. c. 28), the stran- 

 gling of the monsters by the young Hercules, Virgil's Laocoon, 

 and the snake that compelled the Romans to retreat from 

 Bagradus, are all, no doubt, truths in disguise ; but here is one 

 of the most formidable of the true serpents, and an altogether 

 grand specimen of its race, engaged in a tender maternal office, 

 and exhibiting the utmost solicitude for its charge. Most of the 

 full-grown serpents are shut up in their clean glass dens in soli- 

 tude, but this motherly python has a male companion, with whom 

 she has lived in peace for the greater part of her term of eleven 

 years' captivity in the Gardens. The male is a small animal — 

 that is, comparatively speaking. His length may be about fifteen 

 feet, and at the time of our visit he was lying coiled up and torpid 

 in his blanket, engaged, in the uncomfortable process of chang- 

 ing his skin. The female measures twenty-two feet in length, 

 her weight is about one hundred and twenty-eight pounds. 

 As the proportions are very nearly identical in pythons and 

 boas, it may be interesting here to give the measurements of a 

 specimen in my own collection, the remembrance of which may 

 be useful in assisting visitors to the Gardens to form an estimate 

 of the proportions of the female python during the brief glimpses 

 now obtainable, as she occasionally presents herself to view be- 

 tween the folds of her blanket. This is a specimen of boa- 

 constrictor from tropical America. It measures, in extreme 

 length, twenty feet three inches, the girth at ten feet from 

 the head is seventeen inches, girth just below the head eight 

 inches ; width of upper jaw at its junction with the gullet three 

 inches ; length of the upper jaw with its four rows of teeth four 

 inches, and the inner plate of the lower maxillary is not so large 

 as the body of a full-grown rat. So far as I could judge by the 

 cursory view obtainable, as the intelligent keeper of the python 

 removed the blanket aside, she is very slightly larger than my 

 own specimen ; and I asked the question whether, in the act of 

 feeding, these pythons were ever observed to lubricate the prey 

 with saliva, according to the time-honoured statements in the 

 books. The keeper could declare, from many years' experience 

 in feeding these serpents with rabbits and ducks, that no such 

 lubrication ever takes place. 



According to the narratives of Mr. McLcod, Mr. Broderip, 

 and other observers equally reliable, the prey is never heeded 

 unless it exhibits signs of life. The serpent watches it, and 

 strikes it suddenly while it is in motion. The blow is followed 



