Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/484

 452 ANACONDA their crescentic form, which allows them to be completely shut, indicates the aquatic habits which we know characterize the anaconda. Other generic characters are the three plates which surround the nostrils, the plates which cover the anterior half of the top of the head and the scales which cover it posteriorly, the flat and smooth scales of the body, and the un- divided plates on the under surface of the tail. The head is comparatively small, conical, very- flat below, and truncated in front ; the body is considerably larger in the middle than at either extremity ; the tail, less prehensile than in the boas, forms about one sixth of the total length. The eyes, which are small, are so placed that the animal can see at the same time objects above and before it, a provision common to all water serpents. The mouth is perfectly straigh t, and armed with strong teeth gradually dimin- ishing in size in the four series ; the number is 16 on each side in each jaw, 5 on the palate, and 10 on the pterygoid bones. The scales of the body are lozenge-shaped, and nearly of the same size, except those of the sides, which are two or three times larger than the rest ; on the trunk there are about 60 longitudinal and 375 transverse rows ; on the tail there are over 80 transverse and about 86 longitudinal rows. The plates or scutellae of the abdominal region are very narrow, and about 250 in number, and of the tail from 60 to 73. The colors are simpler than in the boas, being blackish green above in the adults, and olive brown in the young; on the temples, between two lines of pure black, is a wide yellow band ex- tending obliquely from the eye to behind the angle of the mouth ; the back and tail present large oval disks of deep black, disposed in two series alternating with each other, and oc- casionally coalescing ; along each side is a single or double row of black rings contrasting finely with the yellow ground color; the color be- neath is ochre yellow with black quadrangular spots, isolated or confluent. The anaconda is the largest serpent of America, and is only equalled in size by some of the pythons of the old world ; it is occasionally seen in mu- seums 20 feet long, and it probably attains a considerably larger size, though the accounts of travellers are generally much exaggerated in this respect The Guianas and Brazil are the iavorite and perhaps the exclusive resorts of the anaconda. It lives mostly in the water, and is fond of shallow places, where it remains with all but the head submerged watching for its prey ; it swims rapidly, in an eel-like man- ner, and can pass a long time beneath the sur- face ; it is occasionally seen floating lazily with the current ; it is also in the habit of stretching itself on the sand or on the rocks, on a river's bank, or along the trunk of a fallen tree, where it lies in wait for animals which come to drink. Its ordinary food consists of agoutis, small ro- dents, iguanas, fish, and occasionally a monkey, sloth, or ant-eater ; it crushes its prey in its strong folds, and, seizing it with its teeth, swal- AN^ESTHETIOS lows it very slowly, head first. The time of impregnation is the winter months, when the natives attack it with guns, arrows, and even clubs; it is sluggish in its motions on land, and timid, and not at all feared ; it is very tenacious of life. The natives use the skin for shoes and bags, the fat for the purposes of oil, and the flesh for food. It is ovoviviparous. Only one species of the genus is described. ANACREON, a Greek lyric poet, born at Teos in Ionia about 561 B. C. "When that city was taken by the Persians, about 540 B. C., he emigrated to Abdera in Thrace, whence he afterward went to Samos, and spent several years at the court of Polycrates. On the death of Polycrates he was invited to Athens by the tyrant Hipparchus, who sent a vessel for him. Here he formed an intimacy with Simo- nides and other poets. He left Athens prob- ably on the murder of Hipparchus in 514, and died in the 85th year of his age, but the place of his death is uncertain. He is said to have been choked by a grape stone. We possess only a few genuine fragments of the poems of Anacreon. His favorite themes were love and wine ; his distinguishing characteristics licen- tiousness, gracefulness, and fervor. The best editions are by Fischer (3d ed., Leipsic, 1793) and Mehlom (Glogau, 1825), and of the sepa- rate fragments that of Bergk (Leipsic, 1834). ANADYOMENE (Gr., emerging), a surname given to a picture of Venus rising from the ocean. Apelles was the first who painted her in this posture as she rose from the sea, and was drying her hair with her hands. This picture was bought by the inhabitants of the island of Cos, and pnt in their temple of ^Escn- lapius. The emperor Augustus bought it of them for the remission of 100 talents tribute, took it to Rome, and placed it in the temple of Venus Genitrix. In Nero's time it was nearly washed out, and was repaired. ANADYR, or Anadir. I. An extensive gulf or sea of Asia, at the N. E. extremity of Sibe- ria, lying between Cape St. Thaddee and Cape Tchukotskoi, of late years much resorted to for whales. II. A river of Siberia, having its source in Lake Yoanko in the Stanovoi moun- tains, about lat. 66 30' N., Ion. 173 E. It traverses the central portions of the Tchuktchi country in N. E. Siberia, flows first W., then E., and after a course of about 500 m. falls into an inlet of the gulf of Anadyr. The coun- try through which it passes is rocky and bar- ren, and covered with snow about nine months in the year. AMilll t. See BRAIN, DISEASES OF THE, and CHLOROSIS. ANESTHETICS (Gr. av, privative, and aioB&vo- //<u, I feel), substances which can produce a general or partial suspension of nervous sensi- bility. In the common acceptation of the term should be included all drags which have the faculty of so acting upon the brain that this effect can be caused; for instance, all the forms of narcotics and diffusible stimulants.