THE LIVING WORLD. 
makes a dart at the nose, and with a grip of its back-reclining double row of 
teeth, never fails to secure the terrified beast beyond power of escape.” 
When the prey is secured the anaconda does not proceed immediately to 
swallow it, particularly if the prey be of any considerable size, but entwining 
its folds about the helpless victim it crushes every bone in the body, leaving 
the head alone intact. This the reptile performs in no undue haste, but with 
a kind of measured deliberation, after which it slowly uncoils its dreadful folds, 
crawls around the body as if to more perfectly determine the size, at the same 
time frequently 
touching the body 
with its tongue, 
but not as once 
supposed, to de¬ 
posit a slimy sa¬ 
liva on the body 
as a coating to 
facilitate deglu¬ 
tition. It then 
begins the feast 
by swallowing 
the head of the 
prey first, much 
time being re¬ 
quired in getting 
this within the 
reptile’s throat. 
But even when 
once started down 
the oesophagus 
the food disap¬ 
pears slowly and 
by jerks, corres¬ 
ponding to a mus¬ 
cular exertion 
that is imparted 
by twitches. 
in the toies. The anacon- 
da , like a great 
many other snakes, can emit at will an extremely foetid odor, which in former 
times was believed to be a pestilential breath ; but it has since been discovered 
that this evil effluvia is produced by the emission of a liquid secreted in two 
glands that lie near the vent, the power and provision being very similar to 
that of the pole-cat, the crocodile, and the muskrat. 
In color the anaconda is beautifully marked, being of a very rich brown 
with a series of pale yellow rings edged with deep black along the sides, while 
upon the back are two rows of prominent circular black spots that present a 
most pleasing appearance. This reptile occasionally attains a length of eigh¬ 
teen feet and a circumference, about the largest part, of nearly two feet. Like 
others of the boa species, to which it properly belongs, the anaconda is ovi- 
