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 known to exist. Its common haunt, or rather domicile, is invariably near lakes, swamps, and rivers; likewise close wet ravines produced by inundations of the periodical rains: hence, from its aquatic habits, its first appellation. Fish and those animals which repair there to drink, are the objects of its prey. The creature lurks watchfully under cover of the water, and, whilst the unsuspecting animal is drinking, suddenly makes a dash at the nose, and with a grip of its back-raclining double range of teeth never fails to secure the terrified beast beyond the power of escape." It would appear that boas are apt to be carried out to sea by sudden floods, and are sometimes drifted alive on distant coasts. The Rev. Lansdown Guilding, writing in the Island of St. Vincent, says, "A noble specimen of the boa constrictor was lately conveyed to us by the currents, twisted round the trunk of a large sound cedar tree, which had probably been washed out of the bank, by the floods of some great South American river, while its huge folds hang on the branches as it waited for its prey. The monster was fortunately destroyed after killing a few sheep, and his skeleton now hangs before me in my study, putting me in mind how much reason I might have had to fear in my future rambles through St. Vincent, had this formidable animal been a pregnant female and escaped to a safe retreat."