DO SNAKES DRINK 1 79 



presenta de I'eau dans un petit basin ; elle y plongea le bout 

 de son museau, et Tanimal en but avec avidite environs 

 de deux verres. Elle a ensuite bu quatre fois pendant le 

 reste du temps de sa couvaison : le 4 juin, 13, 19, 26.' (Her 

 eggs began to hatch early in July.) 



The interesting invalid, ordinarily tame and gentle, had 

 latterly displayed anger and irritability on being disturbed, 

 pushing away the hand if touched ; but in her present state 

 the want of water was so great that she evinced uneasiness 

 to her guardian, and permitted him to move and turn her 

 head, so that she could dip the end of her muzzle into the 

 basin. The narrator argued, from this remarkable demonstra- 

 tion, that the incubation (in which a rise of temperature 

 was observable) produced a sort of feverishness which caused 

 her to decline solid food, though her thirst was so great 

 that she almost asked for drink. 



When eight of the fifteen eggs were hatched, the little 

 pythons ate nothing until after their first moult (which 

 happened to them all within a fortnight), but during those 

 early days of their existence they * drank several tiuiesy and 

 also bathed themselves.' 



This event perhaps established the fact beyond any doubt 

 that snakes do drink, so far as modern and scientific ophio- 

 logists had ventured to decide ; and M. Dumeril, from long 

 observation, is able to tell us how. 



Speaking of the tongue of a snake, this experienced natu- 

 ralist informs us that 'cette langue fort longue sert-elle 

 comme on I'a observee quelque-fois a faire pen^trer un pcu 

 de liquide dans la bouche, car nous avons vu nous-mcmc dcs 

 couleuvres laper ainsi Teau, que nous avions placee auprcs 



