LIMBS OF ANACONDA 
every probability that this mythical beast is compounded 
of many elements. The sucuruju is both aquatic and 
arboreal, so that its chances of being washed out to sea 
in an unusual spate are more than those of some other 
large snakes. Given an unusually large anaconda and 
a mariner cheered by a double allowance of grog, twi- 
light and a stormy sea, and we have a good sea-serpent 
basis at once. The anaconda (after all, “‘sucuruju ”’ is 
a tiresome word to say and to spell) grows very thick ; 
and its head, which is large, is divided from its body by 
a slender neck, instead of running into it as in the Euro- 
pean allies of the anaconda, the snakes called Eryx. 
It may seem absurd to say that this serpent has a parti- 
cularly short tail; for serpents seem to be either all 
neck or all tail. But as a matter of fact, on the whole 
serpents differ from lizards by the fact that they have a 
short tail, while lizards have a long one. The tail is 
marked in the anaconda by a pair of short recurved 
claws, which, with some adjacent bonelets, are the re- 
mains of the hind pair of limbs present also in all the 
pythons and other immediate allies of the anaconda, 
but absent in other snakes, such as the vipers and colu- 
brines. The colour of this serpent is olive brown, with 
black marks along the back. Like the great pythons of 
Asia and Africa, the anaconda often, especially just 
after it has shed its skin, and gotten a new one—shows 
beautiful iridescent hues. It brings forth its young 
alive, as do the vipers. The anaconda is one of the 
“constricting ’’ snakes, that is, it crushes the life out of 
its prey by winding round it before proceeding to eat it. 
Much has been written about the deadly fascination 
exercised by this and other snakes upon their intended 
prey, which have been said to approach gradually to 
their foe, allured by its brilliant eyes and steady stare. 
As a matter of fact these legends of fascination appear 
to be based upon two facts. Firstly, the flickering 
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