GLASS III. EEPTILIA: ORDER 4. OPHIDIA. 
406 
BOA COXSTEICTOES ATTACKING A DBEE. 
seem to render their swallowing them a matter of impossibility ; yet, according to some writers, 
they can destroy and gorge a buffalo ; but specimens capable of such feats of voracity appear to be 
rarely met with, although there is no doubt >that a good-sized Python will easily swallow a goat or 
calf. The victim is destroyed by powerful compression, effected by the snake coiling its body 
round it, and then gradually tightening the folds. In this manner the body of the animal is 
reduced to a state fit for being swallowed, and this operation usually takes a considerable time. 
After being thus gorged with its meal, the serpent retires to some sheltered retreat, where it lies 
in a torpid state for some weeks ; nor does it resume its activity till the digestion of its enor- 
mous repast is complete, and hunger returns to rouse it again to action. 
There appear to be two species of Python, in both of which the female places her eggs in a 
group, and encircles and covers them with her body, an instance of which took place in the 
Garden of Plants of Paris a few years since, where .a pair of these animals were kept. The IJlar 
Sawad, p. reticulatus, is distinguished by the four front upper labial plates being pitted ; the 
frontal plate simple ; the head has a narrow longitudinal brown stripe. It is one of the most 
brilliant species of the whole family, its entire body being covered with a gay lacing of gold and 
black. It is a native of Hindostan, Ceylon, and Borneo. Several stuffed specimens are in the 
British Museum, and a hving one in the gardens of the Zoological Society. It is said to increase 
till it is more than thirty feet in length, and stout in proportion. The powers of such a gigantic 
reptile must be enormous, and it is stated that this serpent is able to manage a buffalo. Nor 
are there wanting horrible instances of man himself having fallen a prey to these monsters, in 
modern times. We are told that a Malay proa was anchored for the night under the island of 
Celebes. One of the crew had gone on shore to search for betel-nut, and is supposed to have 
fallen asleep upon the beach from weariness, on his return. In the dead of the night his com- 
panions on board were roused by dreadful screams ; they immediately Avent ashore, but they came 
too late ; the cries had ceased, and the wretched man had breathed his last in the folds of an 
enormous serpent, which they killed. They cut off the head of the snake, and carried it, together 
with the lifeless body of their comrade, to the vessel. The right wrist of the corpse bore the 
marks of the serpent's teeth, and the disfig-ured body showed that the man had been crushed by the 
constriction of the reptile round the head, neck, breast, and thigh. The serpent which attacked 
the sailor in a boat on the Bay of Bengal, of which we have just spoken, was of this species. 
The Rock-Snake, P. molurus, is generally known by the name of the Boa Constrictor, though 
it is stri<;tly a python. It grows to a great size, and resembles the preceding in its habits. 
Specimens of this have frequently been seen in the menageries. It is a native of Hindostan 
and other parts of Asia, and also of Java. 
