" It was remarked, especially by the officers of the watch, who had better opportunities of noticing this circumstance, that the goats had always a great horror of the serpent, and avoided that side of the deck on which his cage stood." (P. 305.) Mr. Broderip, in the second volume of the Zoological Journal,' after referring to Mr. M'Leod's interesting narrative, of the correctness of which, as far as it goes, he says he has not a single doubt, and observing that two points in that description struck him forcibly, the one as being contrary to the probable structure of the animal, and the other as being contrary to Mr. Broderip's observations, proceeds to give the following account of the manner in which the serpent takes its prey in this country.
Mr. Broderip had an opportunity of seeing one of these creatures when kept in the Tower. The keeper says Mr. Broderip "sent to inform me that one of these reptiles had just cast his skin, at which period they, in common with other serpents, are most active and eager for prey. Accordingly I repaired with some friends to the Tower; where we found a spacious cage, the floor of which consisted of a tin case covered with red baize and filled with warm water, so as to pro duce a proper temperature. There was the snake, positis nevus exuvirs; gracefully examining the height and extent of his prison as he raised, without any apparent effort, his towering head to the roof and upper parts of it, full of life, and brandishing his tongue.
"A large buck rabbit was introduced into the cage. The snake was down and motionless in a moment. There he lay like a log without one symptom of life, save that which glared in the small bright eye twinkling in his depressed head. The rabbit appeared to take no notice of him, but presently began to walk about the cage. The snake suddenly, but almost imperceptibly, turned his head according to the rabbit's movements, as if to keep the object within the range of his eye. At length .the rabbit, totally unconscious of his situation, approached the ambushed head. The snake dashed at him like lightning. There was a blow—a scream—and instantly the ;victim was locked in the coils of the serpent. This was done almost too rapidly for the eye to follow : at one instant the snake was motion less ; in the next he was one congeries of coils round his prey.. Ho had seized the rabbit by the neck just under the ear, and was evidently exerting the strongest pressure round the thorax of the quadruped ; thereby preventing the expansion of the chest, and at the same time depriving the anterior extremities of motion. The rabbit never cried
after the first seizure; he lay with his hind legs stretched out, still breathing with difficulty, as could be seen by the motion of his flanks. Presently be made one desperate struggle with his hind legs ; but the snake cautiously applied another coil with such dexterity as com pletely to manacle the lower extremities, and, in about eight minutes, the rabbit was quite dead. The snake then gradually and carefully uncoiled himself; and, finding that his victim moved not, opened his mouth, let go his hold, and placed his head opposite to the fore part of the rabbit. The boa generally, I have observed, begins with the head ; but in this instance the serpent, having begun with the fore legs, was longer in gorging his prey than usual, and in consequence of the difficulty presented by the awkward position of the rabbit, the dilatation and secretion of lubricating mucus were excesaive. The serpent first got the fore legs into his mouth; he then coiled himself round the rabbit, and appeared to draw out the dead body through his folds; he then began to dilate his jaws, and holding the rabbit firmly in a coil as a point of resistance, appeared to exercise at intervals the whole of his anterior muscles in protruding his stretched jaws and lubricated mouth and throat at first against and soon after fradually upon and over his prey. The curious mechanism in the jaws of serpents which enables them to swallow bodies so dipropor dolled to their apparent bulk is toe well known to need description ; but it may be as well to state that the symphysia of the under jaw was separated in this case, and in others which I have had an oppor tunity of observing. When the prey was completely ingulphed, the serpent lay for a few moments with his dislocated jaws still dropping with the mucus which had lubricated the parts, and at this time he looked quite sufficiently disgusting. He then stretched out his neck, and at the same moment the muscles seemed to push the prey further downwards. After a few efforts to replace tho part], the jaws appeared much the same as they did previous to the monstrous repast.