50 
JAVA SNAKE. 
tion of my little finger. The coats of the intestines, in a contracted 
state, near their communication with the stomach, were an inch in 
thickness. 
On opening the stomach, the cause of death at once appeared, 
in myriads of worms which had destroyed its internal coats in 
several places. These, of a dark red-colour, and varying from two to 
four inches in length, were about the twentieth part of an inch in 
their greatest diameter, and tapered to both extremities. They had 
collected in throngs of ten or twenty, in different parts of the sto- 
mach, and having attacked together particular spots, had formed several 
round holes. These, after penetrating to the peritoneal coat, took 
an oblique direction ; and in some places were situated in the 
centre of tubercles formed by the deposition of coagulated lymph. 
Of the goat I only found the shells of the horns full of hair, and 
a portion of the bone of one of the fore legs. The lower part of 
the intestines contained a light yellowish excrement, which had very 
little odour, and resembled chalk in consistence. 
This animal evidently belongs to that subdivision of the genus Boa 
which has been named Pytho by Daudin. The arrangement of the 
scales on the under part of the tail, is accurately represented in the 
lower figure of the annexed engraving. In the Appendix f, I have 
attempted a description of him, which I hope will fix his species. 
In addition to the foregoing description, taken from my own 
observation, I obtained the following facts respecting his habits, from 
the politeness of Capt. Heyland, who possessed him for several 
months in Java, and which I cannot do better than give nearly in 
his own words. “ The animal was brought to me early in January, 
1813, and did not from that time taste food till the July following. 
During this period, he generally drank a quart of water daily, and 
frequently passed a thick yellow excrement. The man who brought 
him stated, that he had been seen to eat a hog-deer * the day 
before he had been taken. He was allowed to be at liberty in the 
* Ccrvus porcinus of Linnaeus 
f Appendix, C. 
