seem to render their swallowing them a matter of impossibility; yet, according to some writers, they can destroy and gorge a buffalo; but specimens capable of such feats of voracity appear to be rarely met with, although there is no doubt that a good-sized Python will easily swallow a goat or calf. The victim is destroyed by powerful compression, effected by the snake coiling its body round it, and then gradually tightening the folds. In this manner the body of the animal is reduced to a state fit for being swallowed, and this operation usually takes a considerable time. After being thus gorged with its meal, the serpent retires to some sheltered retreat, where it lies in a torpid state for some weeks; nor does it resume its activity till the digestion of its enormous repast is complete, and hunger returns to rouse it again to action.

There appear to be two species of Python, in both of which the female places her eggs in a group, and encircles and covers them with her body, an instance of which took place in the Garden of Plants of Paris a few years since, where a pair of these animals were kept. The ULAR Sawad, P. reticulatus, is distinguished by the four front upper labial plates being pitted; the frontal plate simple; the head has a narrow longitudinal brown stripe. It is one of the most brilliant species of the whole family, its entire body being covered with a gay lacing of gold and black. It is a native of Hindostan, Ceylon, and Borneo. Several stuffed specimens are in the British Museum, and a living one in the gardens of the Zoological Society. It is said to increase till it is more than thirty feet in length, and stout in proportion. The powers of such a gigantic reptile must be enormous, and it is stated that this serpent is able to manage a buffalo. Nor are there wanting horrible instances of man himself having fallen a prey to these monsters, in modern times. We are told that a Malay proa was anchored for the night under the island of Celebes. One of the crew had gone on shore to search for betel-nut, and is supposed to have fallen asleep upon the beach from weariness, on his return. In the dead of the night his companions on board were roused by dreadful screams; they immediately went ashore, but they came too late; the cries had ceased, and the wretched man had breathed his last in the folds of an enormous serpent, which they killed. They cut off the head of the snake, and carried it, together with the lifeless body of their comrade, to the vessel. The right wrist of the corpse bore the marks of the serpent's teeth, and the disfigured body showed that the man had been crushed by the constriction of the reptile round the head, neck, breast, and thigh. The serpent which attacked the sailor in a boat on the Bay of Bengal, of which we have just spoken, was of this species.

The ROCK-SNAKE, P. molurus, is generally known by the name of the Boa Constrictor, though it is strictly a python. It grows to a great size, and resembles the preceding in its habits. Specimens of this have frequently been seen in the menageries. It is a native of Hindostan and other parts of Asia, and also of Java.

Genus HORTULIA: Hortulia.—Of this is the NATAL ROCK-SNAKE, H. Natalensis, which attains an enormous size.

The GUINEA ROCK-SNAKE, H. Seba, resembles the preceding; it is found in Western Africa, and is the Fetish Serpent worshiped by the natives of Guinea. The ROYAL ROCK-SNAKE, H. regia, is an inhabitant of Gambia and the contiguous country.

Genus EPICRATES: Epicrates.-This includes several species, known under the general name of Aboma. The TAMACUILLA HUILIA OF ABOMA, E. cenchria, appears to be the serpent worshiped by the ancient Mexicans. It is of gigantic size, and has its haunts in marshy places in the tropical parts of South America; it suspends itself by the tail to some branch of a tree overhanging the water, allowing the head and body to float upon the surface. In this situation it waits patiently till some animal comes near, when it darts upon it, crushes it in its folds, and devours it at leisure.

The BROWN ABOMA, E. maurus, resembles the preceding, and is a native of Venezuela. Genus XIPHOSOMA: Xiphosoma. This includes a single species, the BоJOBI or GREEN BOA. This is a large and formidable serpent, whose bite produces lock-jaw, and is therefore often fatal. It is a native of tropical America.

Genus BOA: Boa.-Of this there are four species, all of which have been described as the Boa Constrictor. The true BoA CONSTRICTOR, B. constrictor, appears to be confined to Guiana and Brazil. Some authors consider it as the sacred serpent of the Mexicans. It is a gigantic species, and frequently devours deer, goats, and other quadrupeds of large size.

Genus EUNECTES: Eunectes.-This includes the ANACONDA, E. murinus, though it is proper to observe that the term Anaconda, like that of Boa Constrictor, has been popularly applied to all the more powerful serpents. This species is brownish, with a double series of blackish-brown blotches down the back; the lateral spots are annular and oscellated. When young it feeds on mice; at maturity it devours goats, sheep, &c. Its provincial name signifies DeerSwallower. It is found in Venezuela, where it is called Culebra de Agua.

There are still many other genera and species belonging to the great family of Boidæ,

In descending from the higher to the lower forms of life, we now come to a class which, while still preserving the vertebrate organization, has certain curious modifications of structure, showing an approach to the fishes, and in some cases blending the fish and the quadruped, and even presenting the same species as a fish, having a tail and breathing by means of gills in infancy, and afterward rising at maturity to the dignity of four legs, and breathing the vital air by means of lungs. Though many or most of these animals live in the slime of ponds, rivers, and ditches, and are little esteemed by mankind, they present innumerable instances of admirable contrivance in adapting them to their situations, and these are, perhaps, the more striking as they are frequent deviations from the systems which nature has followed in the higher forms of existence and those with which we are most familiar.

The Batrachia are divided into five very distinct orders: the Anura, of which the Frog is the type, and in which the tail is wanting in the fully developed animal; the Urodela, including the Salamanders and Tritons, breathing by lungs alone, and retaining the tail in the perfect state; the Amphipneusta, including the Sirens, having two or four legs, and permanent gills; the Apoda, with a vermiform body and no legs; and the Lepidota, having a fish-like, scaly body, four simple limbs, and permanent gills.

Though differing in many important respects, all these animals agree in having a large mouth, the tongue usually of large size, the intestinal canal short, the liver large; they all possess lungs, but during their young or larval condition they are furnished with branchiæ, in some cases these being persistent through life. The heart is composed of three chambers—a single muscular ventricle, and two membraneous auricles; but in some species the partition between the latter is imperfect. The arterial bulb is surrounded by a distinct muscular coat, as we shall see in the Ganoid and Selachian fishes; and from the continuation of this, the arteries running to the branchia and lungs are given off.

The Batrachia are all strictly oviparous animals, although in some species the eggs are retained in or upon the body of the parent until the young have attained a certain degree of development. As a general rule, the ova are impregnated by the male at the moment of their leaving the abdomen of the female; the eggs are united by a glutinous matter into masses or long chains, which may be constantly seen floating in the waters frequented by these animals. They are essentially inhabitants of the warm parts of the earth, and abound particularly in tropical countries.

ORDER 1. ANURA.

The animals of this order, the name of which signifies tailless, have a short, squat body, four legs, the hinder ones the longest, a large mouth; the skin naked and extremely dilatable, in some cases furnished with glands which secrete an acrid liquid; the eyes large and prominent; the upper jaw usually armed with small hooked teeth; the tongue, though sometimes wanting, generally of large size; the spinal column short, consisting, as a general rule, of eight vertebræ. The habits are various, many living habitually in the water, while others only visit that element for depositing their ova, which give origin to tadpoles, the development of which we shall hereafter notice. We shall describe these animals under three heads: RANIDE, or Frogs, BUFONIDE, or Toads, and PIPIDE, or Surinam Toads.

The Frogs form the highest group of the Batrachian class. They are active creatures, feeding on insects and worms. Those which live upon the ground in the neighborhood of standing water, and pass a considerable portion of their lives in the water, have their toes pointed, and those of the hinder feet united, almost to the tips, by a membrane.

Genus RANA: Rana.—This includes the COMMON Frog of EuroPE, R. temporaria, a very abundant and well-known animal. It is constantly to be found hopping about in the neighborhood of water, especially in damp evenings. It generally deposits its eggs in the water in the month of March; they are enveloped in a mass of gelatinous matter, within which the eggs are seen gradually to increase in size for a month or five weeks, at the end of which time the young tadpoles may be seen moving. When ready to enter upon their aquatic existence, they eat their way through the surrounding jelly, and thus escape. In the course of six or eight weeks the four legs are fully formed; the tail then gradually disappears, and the young frog usually quits the water immediately. In this way they often suddenly make their appearance in prodigious numbers in particular spots, giving rise to the popular superstition of "frog rains;" and in some cases it is said that the little creatures have been taken up and carried to a distance by high winds, to the great astonishment of the inhabitants of the districts in which they afterward descended.

The production of the young of these animals is so curious as to require a more detailed description. The ova of the female are deposited in a jelly-like mass at the bottom of the water, being impregnated by the male at the time of their passage. The development of the young is

more or less rapid according to the temperature; the greater the heat the more speedy is the process. The annexed engraving illustrates the progress of the young animal.

Figure 1 represents the embryo as it appears several days after the egg is deposited. Figure 2 gives an outline of its form; the arrows at the side of the head show the currents of water which are seen to flow to the branchiæ by the breathing of the young animal. A short period brings it to the form represented in Nos. 3 and 4, the latter representing the head. Figure 5 shows the form of the tadpole when first hatched, which usually takes place about four weeks after the depositing of the egg. Figures 6, 7, 8, show various stages of its development; the latter representing the tadpole, called pollywog by the boys of New England; this for some time now undergoes little change of form, but increases in size. At length the hinder legs bud, and are gradually developed, as seen in No. 9; the forc-legs are ere long produced in a similar manner. The tail begins now to diminish, as seen in No. 10, and is finally absorbed into the body and disappears. The tadpole, which for a time was like a fish, and breathing by branchiæ or gills, and feeding on the vegetable food of fishes, is now a frog, breathes the air by true lungs, and betakes itself to the land, where it pursues the avocations of its new and higher life. Whereas it before swam by means of a tail, it now leaps, and as before it ate only roots and grass, it now becomes a hunter of insects and worms. This, or a very similar process of reproduction is common to all the species of this family.

The common frog is said to be five years in attaining its full size, and its life is supposed to extend to twelve or fifteen years. It passes the winter in a state of torpidity, either in holes in the earth, or buried in the mud at the bottom of ponds, without the possibility of feeding or breathing. The voice of the frog is a peculiar hoarse cry, well known as croaking. In the males there is a large sac on each side of the neck, which is inflated with air during the croaking, and probably serves to increase the sound.

The species of frogs are very numerous, and distributed very widely over the globe; they are especially abundant in tropical countries. Their habits are generally very similar to those of the common frog. Notwithstanding the popular notion to the contrary, frogs are said by Bell to be found in Ireland, though they were probably introduced from England more than a century ago. Of the European species, the most celebrated is the EDIBLE FROG, R. esculenta, which is exceedingly common in standing water on the continent, although in England it appears to be It is rather larger than the common frog, and its nocturnal croakings are so loud and disagreeable, that temporary dwellers in the neighborhood of ponds frequented by it, are often prevented from sleeping by its clamorous chorus. It is this species that is most approved of on the continent for culinary purposes. It is very extensively used in France.

rare.

VOL. II.-52.