Photo by D. Le Souef] [Melbourne.
CARPET-SNAKE.
So called with reference to the variegated carpet-like pattern of its skin-ornamentation.
The Indian Python, which is the largest Old World representative of its race, is known authentically to attain to a length of 30 feet, and in the largest specimens the spinal column may include over 400 vertebræ. In common with other members of its family, this huge snake kills its quarry by compression or strangulation, throwing around it successive coils of its body, which, with their contraction, crush out the life of the victim. The dispatched prey is then swallowed whole, commencing with the head. The previous crushing of the bony framework greatly assists the swallowing process, which is further aided by the snake pouring over the body of its victim a copious discharge of saliva.
The extent to which the jaws and the integument of the body generally can be distended for the passage and reception of the food is remarkable. After partaking of a solid meal in this fashion, pythons remain sluggish and in a state of semi-torpor for several days, not reawakening to active life, in fact, until the digestion of the food has been accomplished. As is well known, these and other snakes can exist for periods of many months' duration between their meals. One of the largest Indian pythons by no means contents itself with such small quarry as hares and rabbits—sheep, young calves, and some of the smaller deer representing its more accustomed food. The human species unarmed is as weak or weaker than the proverbial kitten, pitted against the hydraulic-press-like embrace of these monster serpents; and many an Indian native, and more rarely the white man, has fallen a victim to their attacks.
The Reticulated Python, so called on account of the bold reticulated pattern of the skin-ornamentation, may equal, if not exceed, the Indian species in dimensions. It is a native of Burma, Siam, and the Malay region generally, and is recorded as occasionally exceeding 30 feet in length. Examples of this species, including one over 20 feet long, have constituted leading attractions at the Reptile-house in the Zoological Society's Gardens for many years past. The gorgeous prismatic tints that play upon the surface-markings of the coils of these huge snakes, as the sun strikes upon them about midday in their cages, form one of the most wonderful sights that the Gardens afford.
Photo by H. G. F. Spurrell, Esq.] [Eastbourne.
ÆSCULAPIAN SNAKE.