THE BOA CONSTRICTOR.

[The Boa Constrictor about to strike a Rabbit.]

One of the most interesting objects in the fine collection of animals at the Surrey Zoological Gardens, is the Boa Constrictor. Curled up in a large box, through the upper grating of which it may be conveniently examined, this enormous reptile lies for weeks in a quiet and almost torpid state. The capacity which this class of animals possess of requiring food only at very long intervals, accounts for the inactive condition in which they principally live; but when the feeling of hunger becomes strong they rouse themselves from their long repose, and the voracity of their appetite is then as remarkable as their previous indifference. In a state of confinement the boa takes food at intervals of a month or six weeks; but he then swallows an entire rabbit or fowl, which is put in his cage. The artist who made the drawing for the above wood-cut, saw the boa at the Surrey Zoological Gardens precisely in the attitude which he has represented. The time having arrived when he was expected to require food, a live rabbit was put into his box. The poor little quadruped remained uninjured for several days, till he became familiar with his terrible enemy. On a sudden, while the artist was observing the ill-sorted pair, the reptile suddenly rose up, and, opening his fearful jaws, made a stroke at the rabbit, who was climbing up the end of the box; but, as if his appetite was not sufficiently eager, he suddenly drew back, when within an inch of his prey, and sunk into his wonted lethargy. The rabbit, unconscious of the danger, which was passed for a short season, began to play about the scaly folds of his companion; but the keeper said that his respite would be brief, and that he would be swallowed the next day without any qualms.

All the tribe of serpents are sustained by animal food. The smaller species devour insects, lizards, frogs, and snails; but the larger species, and especially the boa, not unfrequently attack very large quadrupeds. In seizing upon so small a victim as a rabbit, the boa constrictor would swallow it without much difficulty; because the peculiar construction of the mouth and throat of this species enables them to expand so as to receive within 290them animals of much larger bulk than the ordinary diameter of their own bodies. But in those cases where the serpent attacks a large quadruped, such as an antelope, he entwines himself round his prey, and by his great muscular power crushes the principal bones, so that the dimensions of the victim are considerably reduced, and after a series of efforts which sometimes approach to strangulation, the monster makes an end of his meal. There are stories of the boa constrictor destroying even the buffalo and the tiger, by crushing them in this manner by the astonishing force of its muscles. We shall confine ourselves at present to a well-authenticated account of the voracious appetite of a serpent of this species, which was brought from Batavia, in the year 1817, on board a vessel which conveyed Lord Amherst and his suite to England.

This serpent was of large dimensions, though not of the very largest. A living goat was placed in his cage. He viewed his prey for a few seconds, felt it with his tongue, and then, withdrawing his head, darted at the throat. But the goat, displaying a courage worthy of a better fate, received the monster on his horns. The serpent retreated, to return to the combat with more deadly certainty. He seized the goat by the leg, pulled it violently down, and twisted himself with astonishing rapidity round the body, throwing his principal weight upon the neck. The goat was so overpowered that he could not even struggle for escape. For some minutes after his victim was dead the serpent did not change his posture. At length he gradually slackened his grasp, and having entirely disengaged himself, he prepared to swallow the lifeless body. Feeling it about with his mouth, he began to draw the head into his throat; but the horns, which were four inches in length, rendered the gorging of the head a difficult task. In about two hours the whole body had disappeared. During the continuance of this extraordinary exertion the appearance of the serpent was hideous; he seemed to be suffering strangulation; his cheeks looked as if they were bursting; and the horns appeared ready to protrude through the monster’s scales. After he had accomplished his task, the boa measured double his ordinary diameter. He did not move from his posture for several days, and no irritation could rouse him from his torpor.