404 
VEETEBRATA. 
THE PYTHONESS OF THE GARDEN OF PLANTS, COILING AROUND HER EGGS. 
serpent, haviug begun with, the fore-legs, was longer in gorging his prey than usual, and in con- 
sequence of the difiiculty presented by the awkward position of the rabbit, the dilatation and 
secretion of lubricating matter were excessiye. The serpent first got the fore-legs into his 
mouth; he then coiled himself round the rabbit, and appeared to draw out the dead body 
through his folds ; he then began to dilate his jaws, and holding the rabbit firmly in a coil as a 
point of resistance, appeared to exercise at intervals the Avhole of his anterior muscles in pro- 
truding his stretched jaws and lubricated mouth and throat, at first against, and soon after grad- 
ually upon and over his prey. The curious mechanism in the jaws of serpents which enables 
them to swallow bodies so disproportioned to their apparent bulk, is too well known to need 
description ; but it may be as well to state that the symphysis of the under jaw was separated 
in this case, and in others which I have had an opportunity of observing. When the prey was 
completely ingulfed, the serpent lay for a few moments with his dislocated jaws stiU dropping 
with the mucus which had lubricated the parts, and at this time he looked quite sufiiciently dis- 
gusting. He then stretched out his neck, and at the same moment the muscles seemed to push 
the prey further downward. After a few efforts to replace the parts, the jaws appeared much 
the same as they did previous to the monstrous repast." 
Of the actual size of the larger serpents we have various accounts. Livy, the ancient historian 
of Rome, tells us of a serpent one hundred and twenty feet long, which was met with by the 
Roman army under Regulus, on the banks of the river Bagi-ada, in Africa, near TJtica, and which 
devoured many of the soldiers. It was finally slain by military engines, which hurled heavy 
stones upon it. Its carcass was so enormous, that when it decayed, it tainted the whole atmo- 
sphere, and compelled the army to remove its encampment to a distance. The story is told 
with so much particularity that we cannot reject it. Another account is furnished of a ser- 
pent sixty-two feet in length which not many years since attacked a sailor in a boat on the coast 
of the Bay of Bengal, and was killed by the crew. At the present time, it appears that ser- 
pents of from twenty to thirty feet are not uncommon in the tropical portions of Asia, Africa, 
and South America. 
Genus PYTHON : Python. — This includes the largest known serpents, which are found only in 
India and the islands of the Indian Archipelago. They frequently ascend trees, and lie upon the 
branches in a position which enables them readily to drop upon any xmfortunate animals that 
may pass their station ; and both these and the boas are said often to cling by the tail to some 
tree growing in the water, where they float upon the surface nearly at full length, lying in wait for 
creatures that may come to the water to drink. They prey upon animals of such bulk as would j 
