M. Valenciennes proceeded to describe that she was in a cage with others, and that a temperature higher than the outside air was maintained. During January and February she coupled several times, and in February ate six or seven pounds of raw beef that was tied on to a live rabbit of middling size. Food offered her afterwards, for three weeks in succession, she refused; but, as described in chap. iv., she drank no less than five times during her brooding. Sloughing occurred on the 4th April. Generally gentle and quiet, she became excited on the 5th May, and tried to bite any one who approached her. Her condition being evident, she had been left alone and undisturbed in her cage; and at six o’clock on the morning of the 6th of May, laid an egg, fourteen others being deposited by half-past nine A.M. The eggs were soft at first, of an oval form, and an ashy-grey colour, but afterwards became rounder and of a clear white. They were all separate. She collected them in a cone-shaped pile, and rolled herself round them, so as to completely hide every one, her head being at the summit of the cone. For fifty-six days she kept perfectly motionless, excepting when manifesting impatience if any one attempted to touch her eggs. Notwithstanding this want of trustfulness on the part of the interesting invalid, M. Dumeril achieved some important experiments regarding her temperature. Reptiles are ‘obedient to the surrounding temperature,’ we may repeat, but in the present instance there was warmth in her perceptible to the touch (_une chaleur notable_). The temperature of the cage was 20° (Reaumur?), that under the woollen coverlet where she reposed was 21°; but in her coils, where M. Dumeril inserted one of the best thermometers that could be procured, she was 41°, and always of a higher temperature by some 20°. Placing the thermometer either upon her or between the folds of her body, only a slight variation was perceptible, but it was invariably higher than the surrounding air. On the 2nd of July one of the shells split (_la coque s’est fendillée_), and the head of a little python appeared. During that day the little creature only twisted about within its shell, now its head, now its tail being visible outside, and withdrawn again. The next day the wee snake made its debut altogether, and began to crawl about (_s’est mise à ramper_). It lost no time in exploring to the remotest corners of its blanket, and by degrees showed itself to the world. During the next four days eight were similarly hatched, the seven remaining eggs, at various stages of development, having apparently been crushed by superincumbent weight.