Nay, more, the puma, which is smaller and more slightly built than the jaguar, at once began to attack these large animals, as though it had been both “native and to the manner born.” Still, in the manner in which these creatures secure their prey, agility and skill—since they generally dislocate the neck—may come more into play than sheer strength, whereas it is the latter that would be most required by a serpent, in the actual process of constriction, after the seizure had once been made. Be this as it may, the safest plan is to limit our ideas in regard to the destructive powers of the anaconda, by what it has been known to do, and I do not think that there is any properly authenticated instance of its having killed a bull—not for us, that is to say; there may be cases known to the Spaniard. Now, the anaconda is very fond of the water—indeed, it is almost, if not quite, as amphibious as the crocodile; and I have sometimes wondered if it does not prey upon the latter. If it does, then we probably see in this the starting-point from which the great oceanic anaconda, or sea-serpent, has been developed. We have only to picture the remote ancestors of the latter having got first to the mouths of the rivers, and then further and further out to sea, proceeding from crocodiles to sharks of about the same size, and so to larger sharks, and thence, gradually, to more and more gigantic marine forms, till at length, in fierce contention with rorqual or cachalot, the zenith of power was attained. Other snakes which live in the sea are small, or comparatively small, and these, which, unlike the sea-serpent, are very well known, are extremely poisonous. They, no doubt, have had their origin in some water-loving viper, or other kind of poisonous snakes, of which there are many examples—most snakes, indeed, are fairly at home in the water, and all, probably, are perfectly well able to swim. Of venomous land-snakes the most deadly, perhaps, is the well-known cobra, or hooded snake, of India. The skin of the neck, in this species, is flattened out from just behind the head. Under ordinary circumstances it lies loose, and is not so very noticeable, but when angry or excited the cobra can inflate it, and it then becomes very conspicuous. To do so, it rears its head, together with the upper part of its body, into the air—standing, as it were, on its tail, and, hissing loudly, presents a both strange and terrifying appearance.