of fascinating its victim. This power, said to be possessed by serpents, of holding their prey spell-bound by fixing their eyes on it, is purely imaginary. What has been popularly believed to be some effect or power that, for want of a better name, has been styled 'mesmeric,' is nothing more or less than the influence of intense fear. The terror manifests itself in animals by a general trembling and convulsive spasms. The sudden appearance of a venomous snake may, and sometimes does, render its victim for the moment paralysed, a condition in which it permits the snake to seize it without offering any resistance. The anaconda is of a rich brownish tint, with a double series of colours extending from the head to the tail; the sides are covered with round dots, white in the centre, but with blackish rings round. When coiled up, it resembles a piece of beautifully painted oil-cloth. Although non-venomous, it is terribly dreaded by the natives, who never venture to bathe or even approach water near which it is known to lurk. Its usual haunt is in the midst of tropical jungles, or close to swamps, lakes, or rivers. Animals which come to drink constitute its usual prey, although fish are said to be sometimes devoured by it. The monster lurks stealthily under cover of the water, and whilst the poor unsuspecting beast is drinking, the serpent strikes at its nose, and burying its recurved teeth firmly like grappling-hooks in the flesh, holds on like a bull-dog. Then flinging and writhing its lissom body round its victim, it crushes out its life, and breaks its bones into fragments. The anaconda sometimes adopts another system of capturing its prey, by suspending itself by its tail from the limb of a tree over the path or trail made by animals in going to drink, and then seizing its victim as it walks along, crushes and swallows it. It is said of anacondas that they usually, if not invariably, hunt in pairs. Waterton says as much; and many persons we conversed with about the habits of these reptiles whilst we were in the tropical parts of America, concurred in stating that when the male anaconda was seen, the female was certain to be close at hand.

The following adventure is narrated by the late Mr Waterton, in his Wanderings in Demerara and the adjacent parts of South America. 'I was sitting,' says he, 'with a Horace in my hand, when a negro and his little dog came down the hill in haste, and I was soon informed that a snake had been discovered; but it was a young one, called the bushmaster, a rare and poisonous snake. I instantly rose, and laying hold of the eight-foot lance which was close by me "Well, then, Daddy," said I, "we'll go and have a look at the snake." I was barefoot, with an old hat, check-shirt, and trousers on, and a pair of braces to keep them up. The negro had his cutlass; and we ascended the hill; another negro, armed with a cutlass, joined us, judging from our pace that there was something to do. The little dog came along with us; and when

we had got about half a mile in the forest, the negro stopped, and pointed to a fallen tree: all was still and silent. I told the negroes not to stir from the spot where they were, and keep the little dog in, and I would go and reconnoitre. I advanced up to the place slowly and cautiously. The snake was well concealed, but at last I made him out. It was a coulacanara, not poisonous, but large enough to have crushed any of us to death. On measuring him afterwards, he was something more than fourteen feet long. This species of snake is very rare, and much thicker, in proportion to his length, than any other snake in the forest. A coulacanara of fourteen feet in length is as thick as a common boa of twenty-four. After skinning this animal, I could easily get my head into its mouth, as the singular formation of the jaws admits of wonderful distention. 'On ascertaining the size of the game we had to encounter, I retired slowly the way I came, and promised four dollars to the negro who had shewn it to me, and one to the other who had joined us. Aware that the day was on the decline, and that the approach of night would be detrimental to the dissection, a thought struck me that I could take him alive. I imagined, if I could strike him with the lance behind the head, and pin him to the ground, I might succeed in capturing him. When I told this to the negroes, they begged and entreated me to let them go for a gun, and bring more force, as they were sure the snake would kill some of us; but I had been in search of a large serpent for years, and now having come up with one, it did not become me to turn soft. So, taking a cutlass from one of the negroes, and then ranging both the sable slaves behind me, I told them to follow me, and that I would cut them down if they offered to flee. I smiled as I said this; but they shook their heads in silence, and seemed to have but a bad heart of it. When we came to the place, the serpent had not stirred; but I could see nothing of his head, and I judged by the folds of his body that it must be at the farthest side of his den. A species of woodbine had formed a complete mantle over the branches of the fallen tree, almost impervious to the rain or the rays of the sun. Probably he had resorted to this sequestered place for a length of time, as it bore the marks of an ancient settlement. I now took my knife, determining to cut away the woodbine, and break the twigs in the gentlest manner possible, till I could get a view of his head. One negro stood guard close behind me with the lance, and near him the other with a cutlass. The cutlass which I had taken from the first negro was on the ground close by me, in case of need. After working in dead silence for a quarter of an hour, with one knee all the time on the ground, I had cleared away enough to see his head. It appeared coming out between the first and second coil of his body, and was flat on the ground. This was the very position I wished it to be in. I rose in silence, and retreated very slowly, making a sign to the negroes to do the same. We were at this time

about twenty yards from the snake's den. I now ranged them behind me, and told him who stood next to me to lay hold of the lance the moment I struck the snake, and that the other must attend my movements. It now only remained to take their cutlasses from them; for I was sure if I did not do this, they would be tempted to strike the snake in time of danger, and thus for ever spoil his skin. On disarming them, if I might judge from their physiognomy, they seemed to consider it as a most intolerable act of tyranny in me. Probably nothing kept them from bolting but the consolation that I was to be between them and the snake. Indeed, my own heart, in spite of all I could do, beat quicker than usual; and I felt those sensations which one has on board a merchant-vessel in war-time, when the captain orders all hands on deck to prepare for action, while a strange vessel is approaching under suspicious colours.

'We went slowly on in silence, without moving our arms or heads, in order to prevent alarm as much as possible, lest the snake should glide off, or attack us in self-defence. I carried the lance perpendicularly before me, with the point about a foot from the ground. The snake had not moved; and on getting up to him, I struck him with the lance on the near side, just behind the neck, and pinned him to the ground. That moment, the negro next to me seized the weapon, and held it firm in its place, while I dashed head foremost into the den to grapple with the snake, and to get hold of his tail before he could do any mischief. On pinning him to the ground, he gave a tremendous loud hiss, and the little dog ran away, howling as he went. We had a sharp fray in the den, the rotten sticks flying on all sides, and each party struggling for superiority. I called out to the second negro to throw himself upon me, as I found I was not heavy enough. He did so, and the additional weight was of great service. had now got firm hold of his tail; and after a violent struggle or two, he gave in, finding himself overpowered. This was the moment to secure him. So, while the first negro continued to hold the lance firm to the ground, and the other was helping me, I contrived to unloose my braces, and with them tied up the snake's mouth. The snake, now finding himself in an unpleasant situation, tried to better himself, and set resolutely to work; but we overpowered him. We contrived to make him twist himself round the shaft of the lance, and then prepared to convey him out of the forest. I stood at his head, and held it firm under my arm, one negro supporting the belly, and the other the tail. In this order we began to move slowly towards home, and reached it after resting ten times; for the snake was too heavy for us to support him without stopping to recruit our strength. As we proceeded onwards, he fought hard for freedom, but it was all in vain. The day was now too far spent to think of dissecting him; so, after securing afresh his mouth, that he could not open it, he was forced into a large bag, and left to his fate till morning.'

In the eastern parts of Minnesota, a very large snake is frequently met with-not venomous, as it is destitute of poison-fangs, but spiteful and vicious beyond almost any other non-venomous snake. To the trapper it is known as the 'bull-snake;' to the naturalist, as Pituophis Sayi. It frequently reaches from eleven to twelve feet in length; the ground colour is reddish yellow blotched with brown and black, the latter colour predominating near the head. A bull-snake has been known to fasten on the throat of a dog while hunting; and not before a cord with a noose was slipped round the snake's neck, and hauled upon until strangulation took place, would it relinquish its hold. The bull-snake is extremely fond of water, and may very frequently be observed swimming about with its head raised above the surface in a stream or pool. It feeds on mice, lizards, quails, and the young chicks of the prairie-hen. A similar habit is common to the bull-snake as we have alluded to when speaking of the anaconda, that of hunting in couples: there are almost invariably two of them together or very near each other. Once we carried a large bull-snake alive to our camp, and fastened it up in an empty flour-cask, in order to observe its mode of feeding. To our surprise, on the following morning, a second bull-snake lay coiled up close to the cask in which the first was imprisoned. Whether number two had followed upon the scent of its captured comrade-and if so, it must have travelled at least six miles or whether some bull-snake that lived in the immediate neighbourhood of the camp had been attracted by the scent of the one in the cask, must ever remain a mystery. Our impression, however, is, that the other had followed along our trail in quest of its companion, probably guided by the

scent.

We could readily recite many such modern adventures, but our limits forbid, and we therefore finish our anecdotes of the nonvenomous boas and pythons with the celebrated encounter which the Roman army, under Regulus, had with a gigantic serpent in North Africa. Valerius Maximus thus mentions it from Livy, in one of the lost books of whose History it was related more at large: 'And since we are on the subject of uncommon phenomena, we may here mention the serpent so eloquently and accurately recorded by Livy; who says, that near the river Bagradas, in Africa, a snake was seen of so enormous a magnitude as to prevent the army of Atilius Regulus from the use of the river; and after snatching up several soldiers with his enormous mouth, and devouring them, and killing several more by striking and squeezing them with the spires of its tail, was at length destroyed by assailing it with all the force of military engines and showers of stones, after it had withstood the attack of their spears and darts; that it was regarded by the whole army as a more formidable enemy than even Carthage itself; and that the whole adjacent region being tainted with the pestilential effluvia proceeding from its remains, and the waters with its blood,

the Roman army was obliged to remove its station. He also adds, that the skin of the monster, measuring 120 feet in length, was sent to Rome as a trophy.' Pliny and other later writers mention the existence of this trophy; but our own opinion is that this was a bit of the sensational writing of the period.

BRITISH SNAKES.

In Great Britain, the non-venomous snakes are represented by three species. The most familiar is the common Ringed Snake (Coluber natrix). It is found in all parts of England, selecting as its favourite haunts damp woods, grassy meadows, and weedy hedgerows, particularly if in the vicinity of water; and its food consists of mice, frogs, young birds, or any small quadrupeds that may chance to come in its way. From oft-repeated experiments, we feel sure that it is impossible, by any amount of provocation, to induce the ringed snake to strike or make any attempt to bite. When the breedingtime arrives, the snake lays its eggs in dung-heaps, hot-beds, or heaps of leaves and decaying vegetable matter, where they are hatched by the heat produced during the fermentation of the mass, aided, perhaps, by the heat of the sun. When winter sets in, the snakes retire into holes in hedges, under the roots of trees, or any other sheltered place secure against the effects of frost, where they become torpid, and undergo a state of quasi-hibernation, until the genial warmth of spring restores them again to an active condition. Numbers of them often seek the same hiding-place, and coil up together into a very mass of snakes.

The Coronella lævis, second in the category of non-venomous British snakes, has only a few years been added to our fauna. The first specimens were taken in Hampshire, near Ringwood, although the species had for a pretty long time been well known in Germany and France, but under the name Austriaca. Its size is about that of the ordinary ring-snake. How it is distinguished from the ringsnake, as well as the marks of distinction between both and the viper, will be noticed afterwards. The coronella is extremely spiteful, and strikes readily and viciously at the hand if touched or meddled with; and when it has fastened on the hand, holds on firmly. Its favourite haunts are dry, hot, sandy situations; and its food consists almost entirely of lizards, although it occasionally devours grasshoppers. Its great peculiarity, as separating it from the harmless ring-snake, and approximating to the poisonous viper, is, that it is ovoviviparous, or, in other words, the eggs are hatched inside the mother, and the young are produced alive, generally five or six at a birth. Mr Frank Buckland thus quaintly describes the advent of a brood of young coronellas in the Field newspaper for 1862: On Tuesday morning last, in her glass-house in the Field window, Mrs Coronella Lævis of six children. The young coronellas are