ZOOLOGICAL GARDEN!?. 
97 
are so embowered in vegetation, that the Pythons are 
not seen by the birds. Two large Pythons were re¬ 
ceived from Assam and placed in this cage, but un¬ 
fortunately only the male now remains. The female 
shortly after her arrival laid about 70 eggs, on the 17th 
May 1882, and, by the 20th of July, all the eggs had 
been hatched, although many of the little snakes were 
still in them, only their heads protruding, and they re¬ 
mained in this condition for some days. After they 
were all out of the eggs, they were taken and placed in a 
cage by themselves, in order that they might be hand- 
fed, as all the food that had been given to them in the 
large cage had been left untouched. Every sort of 
living food was tried, but they refused to eat, and conse¬ 
quently they were all dead in two months. After the 
female had laid her eggs she remained coiled above and 
around them, and, during the whole period that the egg 
were being hatched, she never left them, and apparently 
never changed her position, and she also declined all food. 
An attempt was made to take her temperature during this 
period, as the temperature of the python is said to increase 
during incubation, but unfortunately no suitable instrument 
could be obtained in Calcutta, 
The Pythons are known as Rock-snakes, but why this 
term should be applied to them is not very clear, as they 
are quite as often found on trees, and the tail is more or 
less prehensile. They attain to great dimensions, some 
being even over 20 feet in length. They are distinguished 
from other snakes by the presence of a horny tubercle, 
sometimes called a claw, on either side of the root of the tail, 
and most marked in the male. Internally, this tubercle is 
seen to cap a long bone, the. rudiment of a hind-limb. 
M 
