-2 14 SNAKES. 



Rat snakes of India, are more than their match. Sir Emerson 

 Tennant, in his History of Ceylon, describes an encounter with 

 one. Ptyas mucostis caught a rat, and both captor and cap- 

 tive were promptly covered with a glass shade to be watched. 

 With an instinct to escape stronger than hunger, Ptyas 

 relinquished his hold, and manifested uneasiness. Then 

 the glass shade was raised a trifle, and instantly away ran 

 the rat ; but the snake was after it like a flash, caught it, and 

 glided away swiftly, with head erect and the rat in its mouth. 



At one of the Davis lectures at the Zoological Gardens, 

 a fine Rat snake in the Society's collection was exhibited, 

 and was permitted to be handled by a favoured few. To 

 hold it still was not possible, for the creature glided through 

 the hand, and entwined itself about one as if a dozen 

 snakes had you in possession. It was very tame, and 

 accustomed to be handled by the keeper, whose especial 

 pet it was ; otherwise Ptyas is a powerful snake, and quite 

 capable of strangling you should it take a fancy to constrict 

 your neck. On another occasion this same snake constricted 

 my arm sufficiently to make my fingers swell ; but that was 

 not so much in anger as for safety, because it did not like to 

 be fettered in its movements, or to be somewhat unceremoni- 

 ously examined. A younger and less tame specimen tried to 

 bite me, and squeezed my fingers blue by constricting them. 



There is no circumventing these * lithe and elegant beings.' 

 They wull get into your pocket, or up your sleeve ; and w^hile 

 you think you have the head safely in your hand, the 

 whole twelve feet of snake will have glided through, and 

 be making its way to the book shelves, or where you least 

 expect to see it. 



