502 
Reptiles. 
frogs, worms, mice, and various kinds of insects, and 
passes the greater part of the winter in a state of 
torpidity. In the spring they re-appear, and at this 
season uniformly cast their skins. This is a process 
that they also seem to undergo in autumn. Mr. White 
says: "About the middle of September we found in a 
field, near a hedge, the slough of a large snake, which 
seemed to have been newly cast. It appeared as if 
turned wrong side outward, and as if it had been drawn 
off backward, like a stocking or a woman's glove. Not 
only the whole skin, but even the scales from the eyes 
were peeled off, and appeared in the slough like a pair 
of spectacles. The reptile, at the time of changing his 
coat, had entangled himself intricately in the grass and 
weeds, in order that the friction of the stalks and blades 
might promote this curious shifting of his exuvia." 
THE BOA CONSTKICTOE. 
This immense animal is often twent}^ feet in length, and 
sometimes even thirty-five ; the ground colour of its skin 
is yellowish grey, on which is distributed, along the 
back, a series of large chain-like, reddish brown, and 
sometimes perfectly red, variegations, with other smaller 
and more irregular marks and spots. It is a native of 
