ox THR COMMON RING-SNAKE, 55' 



on reaching within about two feet, or springing-distance of the place in which 

 its intended victim lay concealed, sprang with fell inient full upon the spot. 

 The Rabbit, however, seemed to be in no humour for tamely yielding up its 

 life while a "forlorn hope" still existed, for having no doubt from some con- 

 venient loop-hole watched the advance of its pursuer, it, simultaneously with 

 that pursuer's spring, rushed from its hiding place, and again bounded off across 

 the field. At this juncture, my friend, moved with a feeling of pity towards 

 the Rabbit, or of indignation against its persecutor, or })erhaps a combination of 

 the two, hastily advanced to the rescue; and the enemy having, in the eagerness 

 of pursuit, marched too far from "head quarters" to be able to make good 

 its retreat, there and then met the fate which my friend conceived its mur- 

 derous intentions merited. How the affair might otherwise have terminated, 

 must of course be left to the imagination to conceive, but there can be little 

 doubt that it would have resulted in a manner as tragical in the case of the 

 Habbit, as it has appeared to have done in that of the Weasel, 



BrigJdhampton, September ISth.^ 1853. 



OX THE COMMON RING-SNAKE, {NATRIX TORQUATA) 



BY MR. MICHAEL WESTCOTT. 



Among our many British Reptiles, none surpass in beauty the Common 

 Ring-Snake. Its beautiful dazzling eyes, its neck encircled with a golden 

 band, its livid tongue, its curiously constructed scales of various colours, and 

 its graceful movements, are objects of intense interest even to a casual 

 observer of nature, when viewed without prejudice or timidity. I make it a 

 rule, to ascertain, if possible, what venomous properties are invested in subjects 

 of Natural History which come into my possession ; but I never succeeded 

 in finding any venom whatever attached to the subject of these remarks; at 

 least so far as it is used in self defence. I have teased it for an hour 

 together to make it bite, without success. It is a well-known enemy to the 

 equally harmless Toad; an animal which has been and is treated with an 

 abhorrence and cruelty which superstition is alone capable of producing, f 

 have seen Toads of an enormous size taken from the stomach of a Snake, 

 indeed so large were some of them, that it would appear incredible they 

 could have been swallowed by their common enemy, had I not witnessed 

 the extraction. 



There is a prevalent belief in many localities, and a belief in which 

 some men of science concur, that the Snake swallows her young at the 

 sight of approaching danger; but it never has been stated by an eye-witness as a 

 fact to be relied upon, for all who have yet written upon the subject, have done 

 so from hearsay — the ignis futuus to the truthful naturalist — or from their own 

 imperfect observations. We have an instance of this in "The Naturalist," vol, 

 ii. page 233, where Mr. Garland says he saw a Snake glide into a rut made 



VOL. IV. I 



