is marked in black and white like a pair of spectacles, from whence it is also named the spectacle snake.

Of this genus are the dancing snakes. These are carried in baskets throughout Hindostan, and procure maintenance for a set of people who manage them by playing a few simple notes on the flute. With this music the snakes seem much delighted, and keep time by a graceful motion of the head, erecting about half their length from the ground. When a house is infested with these snakes, and some others of a larger kind, which destroy poultry and the small domestic animals, the musicians are sent for. It is a well known fact that no

sooner do the snakes hear the notes of the flageolet, than they come softly from their retreat, and are easily taken.

BOA CONSTRICTOR.

One of these animals was brought to England in the Cæsar. He was a native of Borneo, and was put on board the ship in a wooden cage with a sliding door. Six goats were sent with him; one a month being considered a fair allowance. When he was fed, the sliding door being opened, one of the goats was thrust in and the door shut.

The poor victim, aware of the horrors of its situation, uttered the most piercing cries, butting at the same time towards the serpent as if in self defence. The snake at first scarcely condescended to notice the animal. At length he fixed his eye steadily on the goat, and raising his head a little, darted out his forked tongue. He then

suddenly seized the poor creature by the fore-leg with his fangs, and throwing it down encircled it in his knotted folds.

The half-stifled cries of the goat soon ceased in death. The snake, however, held him a considerable time. He then slowly unfolded himself, and prepared to swallow the dead animal, by placing his mouth in front of its head, and sucking it in as far as the horns would allow. The points of the horns opposed a slight obstruction but they soon disappeared. The whole operation of completely gorging the animal occupied about two hours and twenty minutes. The reptile now coiled himself up again, and laid quietly in his usual torpid state for about three weeks or a month. By this time his meal was

completely digested, and he was presented with another goat which he devoured with equal facility.

These deadly creatures are bred in North and South America, and in no part of the old world. Some are as thick as a man's arm, and six feet long. The usual length however is from four to five feet. They are of an orange, tawny and blackish colour on the back, and of an ash colour on the belly. The male may be readily distinguished from the female by having a smaller and longer head, marked by a black velvet spot. But that which distinguishes them from all other animals is their rattle; an instrument lodged in the tail, by which they

make such a loud rattling noise, when they move, that their approach may readily be perceived and avoided.

This rattle is composed of several thin, hard, hollow bones, linked on each other and sounding upon the slightest motion. The young snakes of a year or two old have no rattles at all; and it is supposed by some, that they acquire one new bone every year afterwards. When disturbed, they shake these rattles with prodigious quickness; a sound of terror to almost every animal but the peccary and the vulture, who hasten at the signal to feast upon their favourite food.

When unprovoked, the Rattle snake never meddles with any thing but its natural prey. But when accidentally trodden upoǹ, or pursued to be destroyed, it makes a dreadful and desperate defence. It erects itself upon its tail, throws back its head, and inflicts the wound in a moment; then parts and inflicts a second wound. After this, we are told by some, that it remains torpid and inactive without even attempting to escape. The pain of the wound is immediate, and soon becomes insupportable; some expire under it in five or six hours.

The usual motion of the Rattle Snake is with its head to the ground. When, however, it is alarmed, it coils its body into a circle, with its head erect, and its eyes flaming in a terrific manner. But it cannot pursue rapidly, and has no power of springing on its enemy. Some naturalists have believed it to have the power of fascinating its prey by gazing at it, so as to render it incapable' of flight. It is more probable that the victim is prevented

from escaping by the extreme terror which its formidable enemy inspires.

This animal is a native of the warmer parts of America, in some of which it is astonishingly numerous. Its usual length is seventeen or eighteen feet. Its voice is loud and dreadful, and its musky scent is sometimes so powerful as to be very offensive. Its usual motion, when on land, is slow and sluggish; a kind of laboured crawl