490 SNAKES. 



Mr. F. W. Putnam, secretary to the Association, had 

 made himself acquainted with all the English 'viper- 

 swallowing ' literature of any importance up to the date 

 of his paper on the subject in the American Naturalist, 

 1869. Previous to that date. Science Gossips the Field, 

 the Zoologist^ and other English journals had devoted 

 more space to the subject than subsequently ; and from 

 these Mr. Putnam cited many records from intelligent 

 observers, in proof ' that snakes do afford refuge to their 

 youiig.^ Of especial importance, as corroborative evidence, 

 were the statements and anatomical investigations of Dr. 

 Edward es Crispe, F.Z.S., etc., who had for a long while been 

 studying the physiological possibility of such a retreat. On 

 the question, Would not the young snakes be rapidly 

 digested in the stomach of the parent.'' this anatomist 

 showed that they would not come in contact with the gastric 

 juice at all, and that there is ample room in the expansile 

 oesophagus to receive them. He had made experiments 

 with various snakes by filling the stomach with water, in 

 order to ascertain its capacity in bulk. In 1855, Dr. E. 

 Crispe had read a paper on this subject at one of the 

 meetings of the Zoological Society, and again in 1862, when 

 his previous opinions had become confirmed. He had 

 'positive evidence enabling him to state with certainty that 

 the English viper and some other venomous snakes do 

 swallow their young at an early period.' 



Towards the end of the last century, Gilbert White, in his 

 History of Selborne, refers to the prevalent theory, and the 

 instances recorded by him are by the earlier editors of his 

 works regarded rather as evidence than the contrary. In 



