1^36 .. . STATISTICAL ACCOUNT OF THE 



two claws. This enormous but sluggish animal, is not offi- 

 ciously mischievous; it can devour deer and hogs: it entangles 

 them in its grasp, smears them with saliva, and then swallows 

 them whole. These snakes hare been killed with the half di^ 

 gested remains of deer in them. The aboma is an amphibious 

 animal. 



Other smaller snakes, which climb trees and catch monkies 

 and birds ; and some water-gnakes, which devour the wild 

 fowls, are to be met with, but they are neither so common 

 nor so venomous as is supposed. I have seldom seen any. 

 Perhaps the hogs have thinned their numbers. 



The pipa is one of those animals which at first view every 

 one pronounces deformed and hideous ; the general uncouth- 

 ness of its shape being often aggravated by a phenomenon un- 

 exampled in the rest of the animal world, viz. the young in 

 various stages of exclusion proceeding from cells dispersed 

 over the back of the parent. The size of the pipa consider- 

 ably exceeds that of the common toad ; the body is of a flat- 

 tish form ; the head like a short cone ; the mouth very wide 

 but covered at the corners with jagged gelatinous lips. The 

 fore feet have four and the hind feet five toes: these last are 

 united by webs. The male pipa is larger than the female ; 

 both have a dark brown colour on the back, but the belly of 



