THE LIVING WORLD. 
187 
The Boiguacu, or Boa Constrictor proper, the largest and most powerful 
of the several species, is a native of South America and of Java, and though 
by no means common in any part of the world, is most frequently met with 
in forests that are under the equator. Like the ringed boa already described, 
it was once worshipped by a people who w r ere practically defenceless against 
its ravages, and who sought to conciliate its ferocity by reverential attention. 
The boa is handsome in a skin of singular markings and glistening surface. 
The body is covered with a chain of dark and pale white spots alternating, 
the white being oval and the dark compressed at the side by an overlapping 
of white. Im¬ 
mediately after 
shedding, the 
creature is really 
beautiful to be¬ 
hold, but grows 
lustreless towards 
the moulting sea¬ 
son. About the 
eyes is a circle 
of prominent 
scales which are 
evidently de¬ 
signed as a pro¬ 
tection to the or¬ 
gans of sight, 
enabling it to 
dart the head 
among brush or 
t h o r ns without 
fear of injury to 
the eyes. 
The boa is 
not often found 
exceeding twenty 
feet in length, 
though we have 
incontestable evi¬ 
dence of their 
occasionally 
reaching thirty, 
and even thirty- 
five feet. Con¬ 
cerning the process of swallowing prey 
inter .‘t n L 1 fs in fel7r a %%Tefe e r S: those localities which border on . some quiet 
pool where the? lie in wait, either suspended from an overhanging limb, or 
hid in the luxurious vegetation of the ground or possibly partly submerged 
in the water, waiting the arrival of some small animal, which, as it is about 
to drink, the reptile seizes by the snout, and after wrapping several coils of 
DOG-HEADED boa (Xiphosoma caniutn ). 
in which respect the boa is most 
