1942 



Reptiles, 



Reptiles, published in the last edition of the ' Encyclopaedia Britan- 

 nica,' that " no reptile is known to hatch its eggs," we were not prepared 

 for an announcement from the Zoological Society so directly in oppo- 

 sition to that of the author of this recent treatise, which is supposed 

 to be a high authority on reptiles. True, herpetology has by no 

 means kept pace with other sciences, many important features still 

 remaining obscure ; yet we thought that the question of reptiles 

 hatching their eggs had been as firmly settled as that all ophidians 

 are oviparous. But from the days of Pliny, who tells us that young 

 boars feed on cow's milk, and that they are indebted to this mythical 

 connexion with the bovine family for their name, mighty serpents, 

 worse 



" Than fables yet have feigned or fear conceived," 



have always been subjects of mystery, and it is not, therefore, any 

 very great wonder that opinions should differ respecting the hatching 

 of their eggs. The pythoness which has suddenly become a cele- 

 brated and interesting character in the great London world, where 

 almost daily some event or person is elevated to a prominent position 

 only to be put aside when a new wonder appears, is one of the large 

 varieties of the great boa family. It was born in West Africa, and 

 been eleven years in the Gardens, during which period it has thriven 

 well, waxing yearly in strength, girth and length, until now it is a 

 very giant among the serpents in the Zoological Society's collection. 



It is better off than many animals in the Gardens which live in 

 single blessedness in their narrow prison-houses, for the great lady 

 python has a husband. We must say, however, as will be seen pre- 

 sently, she does not seem to derive any great comfort from his society. 

 It may be that, because her mate is much less than herself, she regards 

 and treats him with contempt. He is a dwarf compared to her, 

 being a kind of reptilian Brummel, toying as it were w r ilh peas, while 

 his wife eats scores of animals. She has gorged ten full-grown rabbits 

 at a sitting, or coiling rather ; and on the last occasion that we saw 

 the interesting couple at their dinner (provided every Friday at the 

 fashionable hour of seven) she stowed four rabbits in her elongated 

 maw in an amazingly short time (how many more followed we know 

 not), while her husband not only turned away from a rabbit, but was 

 absolutely insensible to the attraction of a dainty duck which quacked 

 provokingly under his very nose. Do not, however, suppose that the 

 male serpent is puny or powerless. Waterton himself, who came forth 

 from a cavern with a boa encircling him with its muscular coils, 



