Prince Maximilian, Boa Aquatica, is of an enormous size, from twenty
to thirty feet in length.

The boa cenchrea has scaly plates on the the muzzle; and dimples upon
the plates at the sides of the jaws. His color is yellowish, with a
row of large brown rings running the whole length of the back, and
variable spots on the sides. These are generally dark, often
containing a whitish semi-lunar mark. This species, according to Seba,
who describes it as Mexican, is the Temacuilcahuilia (or Tamacuilla
Huilia, as Seba writes the word) described by Hernandez. The species
here described, according to Cuvier, grow nearly to the same size, and
haunt the marshy parts of South America. There, adhering by the tail
to some aquatic tree, they suffer the anterior part of the body to
float upon the water, and patiently wait to seize upon the quadrupeds
which come to drink.

Our engraving represents him in the attitude of watching for a deer
which is seen, in the distance.

A specimen apparently of the boa scytale called in Venezuela "La
Culebra de Agua," or water serpent, and also "El Traga Venado," or
deer-swallower, which measures nineteen feet and a half in length, was
presented by Sir Robert Ker Porter to the United Service Museum. He
states that "The flesh of this serpent is white and abundant in fat.
The people of the plains never eat it, but make use of the fat as a
remedy for rheumatic pains, ruptures, strains, &c."

"This serpent," says Sir B. K. Porter, "is not venomous nor known to
injure man (at least not in this part of the New World;) however, the
natives stand in great fear of it, never bathing in waters where it is