58 
SEHPENT3.- 
-REPTILES.- 
-CoLUBRiNE Serpents. 
the description of plants, for instance, and various 
inammiferous quadrupeds, &c., the account given by 
these writers is often ver}' correct, and not at all 
exaggerated. Why should tliey then, when they come 
to treat of serpents, alligators, &c., launch out into 
what appears to us now-a-days to be such highly- 
coloured tales ? Dr. Shaw in his lectures has noticed 
this, and says that it is probable that many ages ago 
much larger specimens of such animals might have 
occurred than are to be found at the present day, the 
increased population and cultivation of most countries 
I laving tended more and more to lessen the number of 
i-iL'. 16 . 
such creatures. It is the same in our own country with 
other classes of animals. Take, for instance, the account 
given us by anglers and zoologists of repute as to the 
size and weight of o’u- salmon in the river Tweed only 
a few years ago, and comyiare them with the dimen- 
sions of the largest individuals taken now. Formerly 
salmon were taken in that river “ weighing seventy or 
even eighty pounds. Such, however, are never seen 
now, owing to the perfection of the means of capturing 
them at the mouth of the river, by which the chances 
are very greatly against any fish escaping the various 
dangers by which it is environed, for such a succession 
of years as is likely to admit of its attaining to its full 
dimensions.” So we suspect it may have been with 
reptiles in former ages, living in the wild uncultivated 
tracts of marsh and fore-t lands in America and Africa. 
Undisturbed by man and enjoying abundance of food, 
they acquired a size and bulk which they are seldom 
or ever permitted now to attain. The Anaconda 
appears to be spread over a considerable portion of 
intertropical America, being common in Brazil and in 
tluiana. It is of a rather more slender form than the 
Boa constrictor, the body not being so thick, and the 
tail being only .about a fifth of the total length. The 
head, too, is much smaller and thinner, and nearly of 
the same size as the body, and the muzzle is elongated 
and rounded at the tip. The nostrils are yilaced on 
the summit of the muzzle, close to the extremity'’, and 
are very small, which marks the animal as an inhabi- 
tant of the water. It is also less varied in colour than 
the Boa, being, on the upper parts, of a fuliginous 
brown shading into olive on the head, with two rows 
* Baird’s Cyclopocdia of tlie Natural Sciences. Art. &?- 
monidee. 
of round black spots extending along the back. Under- 
neath it is of an ochre-yellow colour, and the flanks, 
which are of the same hue, are marked with a double 
row of eye-shaped spots. The Prince of Neuwied, in 
his “Travels in Brazil,” has recorded a number of 
interesting facts connected with the history of the 
Anaconda. The native name for it in Brazil, he 
says, is Cuenriuba or Cumriu. Speaking of its size, 
he says he has seen individuals twenty feet long, but 
that the inhabitants assured him that it arrives at a 
much greater size in uncultivated and uninhabited 
places. It passes the greater part of the day in the 
water, sometimes swimming with 
great facility, at others allowing 
itself to float on the surface and 
be carried down tbe stream by tbe 
current without exerting the least 
motion. It dives, he says, with 
great dexterity, and often remains 
a long time at the bottom of the 
water, where it reposes, if it is not 
deep, only exposing its head at the 
surface. At other times it lies 
stretched out on the banks of a 
river, on the sand or on trunks of 
trees, where it patiently waits for 
its prey coming to quench its thirst 
at the waters edge. Its principal 
food consists of small mammalia, 
such as the capybaras, the agoutis, and pacas ; and it 
is said that it even preys upon fishes. Their pairing 
season is from November to February, at which period 
they are most frequently to be met with, and may be 
heard uttering a dull bellowing sound. It is a very 
timid animal, and is always on the watch, so that it can 
only be surprised by chance. The natives kill it when- 
ever they can, either by shooting it with a gun or bow 
and arrow when in the w.ater, or by beating it with 
cudgels if they meet it on dry land, for its movements 
then are very slow. It is tenacious of life, and the 
body has been seen to move after it has been disem- 
bowelled and the skin stripped off. The flesh is eaten 
by some of the natives ; the fat is melted down and 
used for various purposes, as in rheumatic pains, 
sprains, &c. ; and the skin is made into shoes, port- 
manteaus, &c. The Anaconda appears to be vivi- 
parous. Schlegel received a specimen from Surinam, 
which upon opening he found to contain twenty eggs, 
each containing a foetus, nearly quite developed, from 
one foot to eighteen inches long, and possessing very 
bright tints, but similar to those of the mother. 
The specific name murlnus [Eunectes murinus) was 
given to it because it was believed to prey chiefly uj)on 
mice, and the French naturalists have adopted the 
same name, and call it the lioa rativora or rat-eating 
Boa. But though these small animals may form the 
principal food of the young Anacondas, the adults are 
powerful enough to attack and overpower much larger 
game. One of its provincial names is El Traga 
Venado or Deer-swallower, and sufficiently indicates 
the idea the natives have of the n.ature of its food. 
THE ABOMA (Epicrates cenchia) is another species 
of Boa, but much smaller than the last mentioned. 1 1 
