A Visit to the Python in the Zoological Gardens. 127 



by a rapid coiling of the serpent around the prey, and the con- 

 striction npon it breaks every bone, and puts an end to life 

 more suddenly and painlessly than by any method of destruc- 

 tion ever devised by man. In all the carnivorous reptilia, this 

 same habit appears to prevail; they never make an attack 

 while the prey is motionless, but wait till it comes fairly within 

 reach, and prefer to strike when it is in full activity. Even a 

 slow-worm or ringed snake follows the rule ; and, though I have 

 often attempted to deceive them when in a domesticated state, 

 by giving artificial motion to a dead frog, the ruse never suc- 

 ceeded, and the morsel was refused. My boa could probably 

 gorge a sheep or goat without difficulty, and though the great 

 python at the gardens is usually fed with rabbits and ducks, it 

 could with great complacency make an end of any one of the 

 pretty antelopes that occupy the pens hard by. But the point of 

 interest here is the alleged act of lubrication. The pythons 

 swallow their ducks without even moistening the feathers, but 

 there is a copious flow of saliva within the horrid jaws, and 

 those jaws undergo a distension, which is in effect a dislocation 

 of the dentigerous bones, which return slowly to their original 

 positions when the act of deglutition is completed. The female 

 python when hungry, and especially after a change of skin, will 

 make an end of a dozen rabbits 'in rapid succession, but her 

 male companion is generally contented with two or three. Though 

 the act of feeding is not to be counted among the elegant exhi- 

 bitions of a menagerie, and our little British snakes follow the 

 example of their vaster congeners in creating a sense of disgust 

 in the spectator, there is system in it, over and above the im- 

 mense muscular force displayed. The victim is invariably 

 taken by the head, so that, in its passage down the gullet, the 

 limbs yield to the pressure of the passage ; and, as the bones 

 are already crushed by constriction, there is much less tension 

 of the integuments than would be supposed by any mere com- 

 parison of the respective dimensions of the gullet and the 

 prey, the dislocation of the jaws being accompanied with a dis- 

 tension of the oesophagus, while the muscular action conveys 

 the prey to the stomach. 



Anxious to afford us a good view of the mass of eggs, about 

 which the python has coiled herself immovably, the keeper 

 proceeded to the back of the den, and gently removed the 

 blanket. There she lay in magnificent coils, the rich mottlings 

 of the scaly skin shining as if oiled, and not a crevice percep- 

 tible between the folds, so regularly had she disposed herself to 

 maintain the temperature of her eggs. The keeper gently 

 placed his hand against her a few inches below the head, and 

 she turned aside reluctantly, brandishing her forked tongue, and 

 showing a few of the eggs. He then placed the other hand on 



