the victim, the destroyer, with some trouble, if the animal be large,
swallows it, and lies down for weeks to allow the process of digestion
to go on. Some of these boas are from Africa, some from India, and
some from America. The last two cases of serpents (16, 17) include
many varieties. Here are the common water and ring snakes of England;
the coach whip snakes, that live coiled about trees; the black and red
ringed snakes, known as the coral snakes; and the varieties of
serpents with which the famed serpent charmers of India exhibit their
skill. The juggler snakes have the peculiar power of inflating the
skin of the neck till it bulges over the head, and so forms a kind of
hood. The Indian varieties of these hooded snakes are poisonous, and
are distinguishable from the others by a yellow spot on the back of
the neck.

From the serpents the visitor should turn to the families of the
Testudinata, or

TORTOISES.

Tortoises are broadly divided into three species, namely, land
tortoises; fresh water tortoises, of which there are no less than
forty-six varieties; and marine tortoises, well known to the citizens
of London, in the shape of turtle-soup. The land tortoises subsist on
vegetables, and are said to live occasionally more than two hundred
years. The two first cases devoted to Testudinata (18, 19) contain the
American, Indian, and African varieties of the land tortoise. Here is
the gigantic tortoise from Galapagos, for the flesh of which many a
sailor has been grateful. The visitor will remark that the shells of
some of the sub-families are handsomely marked. The fresh water
tortoises, having the greatest number of sub-families, occupy three