Page:Natural History, Reptiles.djvu/175

Rh remains in an almost torpid state for some days, or until nature silently digests the swallowed animal.”

The author of the article, in the Penny Cyclopædia, commenting on the above description, and noticing the asserted lubrication of the prey with saliva, makes the following observations, in which we cannot help concurring, notwithstanding the almost invariable statement of such a thing,—at least, by unscientific describers:—“There is generally in these descriptions an account of the fleshy tongue of the reptile, and of its application to the dead animal for the purpose of covering it with saliva previous to the operation of swallowing it. A glance at the tongue of a Boa or a Python will convince the observer, that few worse instruments for such a purpose could have been contrived. The delusion is kept up by the mode in which these Serpents are sometimes preserved in museums, where they may be occasionally seen with fine artificial, thick, fleshy, vermilion tongues in the place of the small, dark-coloured extensile organs with which nature has furnished them. We have frequently watched constricting Serpents while taking their prey, and it is almost superfluous to add that they never covered the victim with saliva from the tongue before deglutition. When the prey is dead, and the Serpent is about to swallow it, the tongue of the destroyer is frequently thrust forth and vibrated, as if indicatory of the desire for food; but the mucus is not poured out till it is required to lubricate the dilated jaws and throat for the disproportioned feast.”