Page:Natural History, Reptiles.djvu/170

162 It is frequently met with beneath large stones, but is captured not without some difficulty, as its agility and its powers of burrowing are great. As it crawls, it frequently protrudes and retracts swiftly the little white forked tongue, like other Snakes: and on being held in the hand, the spinous nipple at the tip of the tail is strongly pressed against the flesh, as if its intention were to wound in defence, but is not capable of more than a slight pricking, which does not pierce the skin. On being put into water, it swims rapidly and elegantly, undulating the body like a leech. The egg is laid in the earthy nests of Termites, and is no less than an inch and an eighth in length, and five lines in diameter: it is of an oblong form, of a clear buff hue, and of a stiffly membranous texture. The young, on being hatched, is perfectly formed and coloured, and very active.

All the gigantic Serpents which are the dread of man and beast in the sultry jungles and teeming forests of the tropics, and of which so many tales of terror are told, belong to this Family. Some of the most interesting and best authenticated of these narratives we shall presently repeat; meanwhile we may observe, that though the power and the dimensions of these enormous reptiles have been popularly exaggerated, and somewhat of fable has mingled with received statements of their habits, enough