20 INTR on UCTION. 



to this, in 1870, Dr. Edward Nicholson wrote his hook, hid ian 

 Snakes, 'in the hope of dispelling the lamentable ignorance 

 regarding some of the most beautiful and harmless of God's 

 creatures.' 



This enthusiasm is gradually spreading, and we now not 

 unfrequently hear of domesticated snakes in English homes ; 

 both from friends who keep them, and from the correspond- 

 ence of the Field, Land and Water, and similar papers, in 

 whose columns inquiries for information are often made 

 regarding ophidian pets. Lord Lilford, one of the kindest 

 patrons of the London Reptilium, has, I believe, for many 

 years been a practical ophiologist. There is one little 

 favourite snake that figures in these pages of which his 

 lordship gave an' excellent character from personal 

 acquaintance, 'the beautiful species ElapJiis-quater-radiatus, 

 as being the most naturally tame of all the colubrines, 

 never hissing or trying to bite though frequently handled.' 

 A noble lady not long since carried a pet snake to the 

 Gardens. It was twined round her arm, where it remained 

 quiet and content, though to the alarm of some monkeys 

 who caught sight of it. Some members of our Royal 

 Family, with the enlightened intelligence which displays 

 itself in them all, have more than once paid visits to 

 the Reptile House at the Zoological Gardens, where the 

 keeper has enjoyed the high honour of taking snakes out of 

 their cages to place in royal hands. The good-will and 

 interest towards the inmates of the Ophidarium are likewise 

 displayed by some country gentlemen in presents of game, 

 in the form of ring snakes for the Ophiophagus and frogs for 

 the lesser fry. Lord Arthur Russell, Lord Lilford, and other 



