That this snake when at liberty lays eggs, he had seen, and in a nest of artificial construction. One that he knew of was excavated in a bank. The snake was seen issuing from a narrow passage just large enough to admit it. Dry, crumbled earth had been discharged at the entrance of the passage, where it lay in a heap. The bank being dug into, the passage was found to lead to a cavity lined with soft rubbish, leaves, etc., which must have been carried there. Mr. Gosse does not pretend to affirm positively that the snake constructed that secluded nest for itself. It might have done so, pushing out the mould by the lateral undulations of its body, as the burrowing snakes do, and carrying back the soft trash in its mouth or, if it only chose a nest formed by some other animal, this proved maternal care. There were eggs in the nest, the shell being like ‘white kid.’ ‘On snipping one, a clear glaire exuded, in which was a large, whitish vitellus, stained with blood vessels, and containing a young snake seven inches long, but immature.’ One fœtus writhed. The fœtus being formed and capable of motion, proved, Mr. Gosse thought, that the eggs had been some time laid. Incubation is a characteristic of that family, the author affirms. Of the various cases he knew, one female boa brought forth eleven snakes. In another snake that was killed, ten or twelve fully-formed young ones were found. One of these ‘yellow boas’ in a private collection displayed unusual restlessness and uneasiness, crawling about its cage as if in search of something. Those who had the care of it suspected that she was with eggs, and supplied her with fine sand. This appeased her somewhat, and after twirling herself around to form it into a kind of nest, she laid some eggs. One of the same kind at the Gardens accepted gratefully some soft cotton wool which a lady brought for her and her young progeny, all of whom nestled themselves in it contentedly and speedily. Two other noteworthy cases have to be recorded, but they shall form the subject of the ensuing chapters. [Illustration] CHAPTER XXV. _ANACONDA AND ANGUIS FRAGILIS._ MAXIMUS and MINIMUS. Yet by right of its name _Anguis_, our little slow-worm—truly a lizard—claims a place in these pages; by right of form also, and by right of promise; and still further, because on the authority of some of our eminent physiologists there is in the dentition of some of the boas an affinity with lizards; and inasmuch as this little limbless lizard affords a good example of those whose ancestry, as Huxley tells us, found it profitable to do without their legs and become snakes, she shall be introduced in company with the largest of all her ophidian cousins. Anaconda also, in having vestiges of hind limbs, affords in these another example of what Darwin calls atrophied organs, remnants of what were once, no doubt, a pair of very excellent saurian legs.