URDER OF. An organization of Israelites of Ger man extraction, founded in America in 1843. and since extended through Germany and in the East. It somewhat resembles the Masonic organization, without its secrecy and ceremonial. Its object is the moral elevation of its members, who now number some 25,000 in more than 400 lodges.
BOA, b0'zi (Lat. boa, bora, a large serpent; perhaps akin to bog, ox, owing to its size). Any of the large non-venomous snakes of tropical America of the family Boidx. These are closely related to the pythons; and popularly the name is applied to any large snake that entwines its prey, crushes it, and swallows it whole—a 'boa constrictor.' These great serpents feed upon liv ing animals of all sorts, for which they lie in wait, often hanging for hours together from trees. The weight of the body is borne under such conditions partly by the prehensile tail and partly by two opposing hooks on each side of the vent. These hooks are held by muscles at tached to several bones, all below the skin, which are the rudiments of the hind limbs of the higher vertebrates. The boa seizes its prey with a swift dart of the head and forward part of the body, and the numerous long backward-leaning teeth hold the struggling animal until the snake throws one or more folds about it and com presses it to death. It may also seize an animal by knotting a fold of its tail or some part of its body around it; and thus boas have been seen to capture, crush, and hold two or three victims at once. The swallowing is a slow and laborious process, aided by a copious flow of saliva, which serves both to lubricate and to digest the mass of food. Boas arc able to swallow creatures con siderably larger than their own heads, because the loose and elastic articulation of the jaws (see SNARE) enables the mouth to he opened both vertically and horizontally. While the process of digestion is going on, for which weeks may be necessary, the boa remains in a state of torpid ity. and then is easily killed. The boas are afflicted with many and at times fatal intestinal worms, received from the bodies of their victims.
Excepting such adversaries, the larger of these powerful serpents have almost nothing to fear.
The name Boa-constrictor properly belongs to one of the smaller of the boas, 12 feet, long, which is most abundant in Guiana and Brazil. It is an exceedingly haudsome serpent, brownish, with a series of complicated and connected blotehings. (See accompanying plate.) The em peror (Boa imperator) of Central America and Mexico resembles it, but has the markings sepa rated by light lines along the sides. A third allied species is the lamanda, to which a sort of worship was paid by the ancient Central Ameri cans, named Boa diriniloquar, of which the Mexi can boa (var. Mexicana) is a northerly form. A fourth, and probably the best-known, species, is the ringed boa (Epicrates ccnch-ria), which is found all over Brazil, but nowhere numerously, and northward to Costa Rica; it is about 5 feet long, and is marked with circular or 8 shaped spots, having a dark border. This is one of the species called aboma and jihoya—Brazilian terms which, like •boiguaeu' and some others that have found currency in books, are very in definite. The genus Epierates embraces the 'tree-boas,' most of which are slender snakes of moderate length, having distinct necks and some what triangular heads, which obtain their food in trees and bushes, or by hanging from branches and striking passing prey; they have the singu lar faculty of clinging firmly to the upper sur face of a leafy branch without curling any part of the body around it, and no amount of wind waving or other agitation will loosen the hold of their looped length short of complete over turning. The swiftness of their stroke is too great. to follow with the eyes. Another genus is often represented in menageries by the dog headed boa (Xiphosoma caninum) of the Amazon region. It often exceeds 5 feet in length and is green above and bright yellow beneath.ornamented with clustered white spots edged with purplish black. The sand-snakes (Erii.e), the Californian liehanuras, and various other generic forms also belong to the Boa family.