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Show 1894.] OPniDIA OF TRINIDAD, B. W. I. 515 raised its head, but immediately resumed its quiescent attitude. Subsequently it suddenly bit the visitor near the tail. The poor little victim was at once released and crawled about as lively as possible, but with the tail raised. Five minutes later it laid its head down-slightly on one side; its body twitched as if in pain, and three minutes later it was dead. The Coral at once seized the dead snake four inches from the head, then worked it through its jaws to within an inch of its head. It then let go, and, seizing it again, worked down the body for about three-quarters of its length. It let go again, and then went up to within an inch of the head, worked up to the muzzle, and got it into its mouth, and proceeded to swallow by sharp sidelong jerks following each other in rapid succession. After it had got the dead snake half down, it began to make the drawing muscular motions which is a characteristic in the feeding of Boa Constrictor and other Ophidia, the jaws doing no work at all. After swallowing the Coral yawned several times. During the first part of the operation the Coral held its victim down by a bight of its body 2| or 3 inches from where its jaws were working. The swallowed snake was nearly as thick as the Coral, and when the latter was going through the preliminary of passing the former through his jaws, there were to be heard sundry little cracks as if the bones were being broken. The whole operation of killing and gorging lasted an hour. In consequence of a fright the Coral disgorged during the night. On the night of July 3rd another snake of the same species (15 inches long) was introduced at 7.59 P.M. It crawled about cautiously. At 8.4 the Coral raised its head, and the visitor lay clown perfectly quiet. The Coral begau to move about, and at 8.11| caught its prey 2\ inches from the tip of the tail, and, contrary to the first occasion, retained its hold. At 8.15| the victim was dying and turned over on its back. At 17 minutes past 8 when examined it was quite dead-5\ minutes from the time of being bitten. On July 21st at 8.15 P.M. the Coral was lying in a corner of its box, on a lamp-lighted table, perfectly indifferent to its surroundings. A Liophis melanotus (17 inches long) was introduced. The Coral roused immediately, and glided about with such rapidity and attacked its victim with such vigour that it was bitten three times, almost before we realized the fact. At the last bite the Coral held the Liophis about the middle of the tail. Four minutes afterwards the victim was dead. The quick lateral motion in swallowing was again observed, and the operation in this case lasted ten minutes. These observations are interesting because they prove that the assertion that snake-poison has very little immediate effect upon the Ophidia, thus being useless in the capture of their prey, is an erroneous one. They are interesting also because they prove that the creatures feed on other snakes besides the Calamaridae. O n July 29th we shaved the thigh of a large full-grown male rat, and forced the Coral to bite it at 8.3 P.M. The rat appeared |