D SNAKES INC UBA TE? 447 



among the zoologists of the day, for here at home in London 

 was a grand opportunity for observing the one only snake 

 which at that time was supposed to exhibit any sort of 

 maternal instinct. Plenty of damp moss had been supplied 

 to her, the temperature maintained in the cage being supposed 

 sufficient for her well-being. She pushed the moss into a 

 kind of nest, and when the ' long string of eggs ' were de- 

 posited, she arranged them in a nearly level mass, and then 

 coiled herself over and around them so as to hide and cover 

 them as much as possible. Sometimes she changed her 

 position a little, and re-arranged her eggs, and in various 

 w^ays rendered herself worthy of record. 



Ophiologists had scientific facts to verify : this opportunity 

 must not be neglected for ascertaining whether so cold a 

 nature, and in midwinter, could produce sufficient warmth 

 by lying there day after day upon her bushel of eggs. So 

 thermometers were ever and anon thrust between her coils, 

 or held close to her ; first here, then there, after the example 

 of M. Dumeril in Paris. Other disturbances in the way of 

 cleaning out the cage and supplying her companion in 

 captivity with food and water were angrily resented by the 

 poor patient, who had no chance of the tranquillity that she 

 would have sought for herself in her native tropics. Besides 

 which, the chances against hatching were far greater in her 

 case than in the Paris and Amsterdam pythons. The former 

 saved only eight out of her fifteen, and here we had, in round 

 numbers, one hundred, more than she could successfully 

 cover at one time. Moreover, a most untoward accident 

 happened one night by the tank overflowing among her eggs, 

 necessitating a complete disturbance of them. What wonder, 



