DO SNAKES DRINK 1 91 



long searchings and a realization of the importance of dates, 

 do these wide spreaders of information discover the error. 

 Compilers of articles for encyclopedias are always limited as to 

 space, and often as to time; and life would not be long enough 

 to wade through Zoological Records covering fifty years, or 

 Aiinales des sciences nature lies which date from 1824 to the 

 present time. Only, the compilers of articles on the Rcptilia 

 should surely have known of Mr. Bell's Cohtbe^' natrix, and 

 of the Paris python, and of the Aniphisbcena of the Zoological 

 Gardens, all ophidian celebrities in their day. 



The mention of the Zoological Gardens reminds me of my 

 promise to conduct my readers thither as an agreeable change 

 from the book-shelves. Therefore, without further wearying 

 them with the conflicting statements of fifty writers, let us 

 repair thither, and see what Holland, the keeper, tells us 

 about his thirsty snakes. 



First, we observe that most of the cages are furnished 

 with a tank or a pan of water, and this not for the water- 

 snakes only. Many of the others, also, are lying in their 

 bath, coiled up in apparent enjoyment. Questioning the 

 intelligent keeper, he tells us that when fresh ophidian 

 inmates arrive, they almost invariably go to the water, 

 and though for a time they refuse food, they alzuays drink. 

 On several occasions some have drunk so eagerly that the 

 water has visibly sunk in the tank. These were the larger 

 snakes, of course. He does ' not believe they would live 

 without water.' He then tells us the story of the Aniphis- 

 bcsna over again, the snake that lived for six months on 

 milk only, and which was chronicled in the zoological 

 magazines of the day, and has figured in books ever since. 



