49 
heat of the sun often in less time than a month.* It will be re* 
marked that the large serpents described in our accounts and de¬ 
positions, were seen near the shore, and only in the month of 
August, excepting once at Plymouth in June. 
The principal objections against the specific identity of these 
two animals are derived from the following circumstances. 
1. Their disproportionate size. This however is not appar¬ 
ently greater than is found between the young and the full grown 
individuals of some other animals. The Boa constrictor may be 
mentioned as an instance.f 
2. The one was seen only in the water and the other on land. 
This objection is lessened when we recollect that the eggs of am¬ 
phibious animals are deposited on land. The large serpent may 
have visited the shore in the night or at other times That it 
was an amphibious animal, dependent on respiration, is rendered 
probable by its general structure, and by its frequenting the sur¬ 
face of the water, often with its head elevated above it. The 
small serpent was found near the salt water, in a place, over 
which the sea breaks in stormy weather. Supposing it a young 
animal, it might have remained in the place where it was hatch¬ 
ed, or it might occasionally have resorted to the shore from the 
water. We should not expect it to venture far from the shore, 
* Les couleuvres peuvent pondre des reufs jusqu’ a deux fois chaque 
annee, savoir des les premiers jours du printems et vers la fin de l’ete ; 
et 11 faut souvent moins d’un mois pour que la chaleur du soleil fasse 
£clore leurs ceufs enterres dans le fumier ou dans le sable. 
Daudin hist, des Reptiles, t. 6, p. 232. 
•j- Les reufs du Devin (Boa constrictor) n’ont, en effet, que deux 
trois pouces dans leur plus grand diametre. Totfte la matiere dans 
laquelle le foetus est renferme, n’est done que de quelques pouces cu¬ 
bes ; et cependant, le serpent, lorsqu’il a atteint tout son developpe- 
ment, ne contient-il pas moins de quarante ou cinquante pieds cubes de 
matiere. I.acepede hist . des Serpens, t. 2, p. 185. 
II paroit que e’est a cette espece qu’il faut rapporter les individus de 
quarante ou cinquante pieds de longueur. Id. t. 2, p. 144. 
Daudin cites from Merrem the description of a young Boa constric¬ 
tor, whose whole length was fourteen inches and a half. 
Daudin hist, des Reptiles, t. 5, p. 199. 
