BOA, a name formerly applied to all large serpents which, devoid of poison fangs, kill their prey by constriction; but now confined to serpents of the boa family (Boidae) which have no teeth in the premaxillary bones and are without supraorbital bones. The others are known as pythons (q.v.). The true boas comprise some 4o species in America, the Mediterranean region, Poly nesia and Madagascar. All Boidae possess vestiges of pelvis and hind limbs, appearing externally as claw-like spurs on each side of the vent but they are so small that they are practically with out function in climbing. The usually short tail is prehensile. One of the commonest species of the genus Boa is the Boa constrictor, which has a wide range from tropical Mexico to Brazil. The head is covered with small scales. The general colour is a delicate pale brown, with about 18 darker crossbars, which are often connected by a still darker dorso-lateral streak, enclosing large oval spots. On each side is a series of large dark brown spots with light centres. On the tail the markings become bolder, brick red with black and yellow. The under parts are yellowish with black dots. This species rarely reaches a length of more than 10 feet. It climbs well, prefers open forest in the neighbourhood of water, is often found in plantations, where it retires into a hole in the ground, and lives chiefly on birds and small mammals. BOABDIL (a corruption of the name Abu Abdallah, the last Moorish king of Granada, called el Chico, the little, and also el zogoybi, the unfortunate) . A son of Muley Abu'l Hasan, king of Granada, he was proclaimed king in 1482 in place of his father, who was driven from the land. Boabdil invaded Castile, was taken prisoner at Lucena in 1483, and only obtained his freedom by consenting to hold Granada as a tributary kingdom under Ferdinand and Isabella, king and queen of Castile and Aragon. The next few years were consumed in struggles with his father and his uncle Abdullah ez Zagal. In 1491 Boabdil was sum moned by Ferdinand and Isabella to surrender the city of Gra nada, and on his refusal it was besieged by the Castilians. In Jan. 1492, Granada was surrendered, and the king spent some time on the lands which he was allowed to hold in Andalusia. He crossed to Africa, and was said to have been killed in battle fight ing for his kinsman, the ruler of Fez. Other authorities claim that he lived at Fez until 1538 in great poverty. The spot from which Boabdil looked for the last time on Granada is still shewn and is known as "the last sigh of the Moor" (el ultimo suspiro del Moro). He is said to have been reproached for weeping over the prospect of the Alhambra by his mother, 'Ayeshah (whose quar rels had helped to bring about the disastrous family divisions in the Moorish royal family), in the words "Thou dost well to weep like a woman for that which thou hast not defended like a man." See J. A. Conde, Domincicion de los Arabes en Espana (1840), translated into English by Mrs. J. Foster ; Washington Irving, The Alhambra (New York, ed. 188o) .