V 



540 CON'STRICTOll BOA. 



ing the outward edges of the spots is, on the con- 

 trary, lighter than on other parts, or even whitish, 

 thus constituting a general richness of pattern, of 

 which nothing but an actual view of a highly- 

 coloured specimen of the animal itself can convey 

 a complete idea. In the larger specimens the yel- 

 low tinge is often lost in an uniform grey cast, 

 and the red tinge of the variegations sinks into a 

 deep chesnut ; and in some the general regularity 

 of the pattern bef ore described is disturbed by a 

 kind of confluent appearance : the head is always 

 marked above by a large longitudinal dark band, 

 and by a narrower lateral band passing across the 

 eyes towards the neck. 



The Boa Constrictor is a native of Africa, In- 

 dia, the larger Indian islands, and South America, 

 where it chieflv resides in the most retired situa- 

 tions in woody and marshy regions. 



It was, in all probability, an enormous speci- 

 men of this very sei pent that once diffused so vio- 

 lent a terror amongst the most valiant of man- 

 kind, and threw a whole Roman army into dis- 

 may. Historians relate this surprising event in 

 terms of considerable luxuriance. Valerius Maxi- 

 mus thus mentions it from Livy, in one of the 

 lost books of whose history it was related more at 

 large. 



And since we are on the subject of uncom- 

 mon phasnomena, we may here mention the ser- 

 pent so eloquently and accurately recorded by 

 Livy ; who says, that near the river Bagrada in 

 Africa, a snake was seen of so enormous a magni- 



