NOTES FROM THE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. 571 



rendered, have their own lives spared. They are not very 

 common, nor very obtrusive ; and we do not hear of so many 

 deaths laid to their charge as to cobras and Bungari. So 

 long as you do not molest their nests or their young, they 

 get out of your way ; but for all that, they might be turned 

 to very good account as snake consumers. 



So might some in Australia and in South America, and 

 elsewhere ; for although this especial Hamadryad usurps the 

 name of ' Snake-eater,' there are Ophiophagi in many parts 

 of the world. They are chiefly Elapidcs. Probably on 

 account of the small head and slender form of these snakes, 

 a fellow-creature is more convenient to swallow than an 

 animal all joints and elbows, and fur-covered. Many snakes 

 are also involuntarily or rather unintentionally cannibals, as 

 in the case of the Tropidonoti, when two seize the same 

 frog, or the python swallowing Geoptyas (p. 38). In such 

 cases the swallower does not first seize his comrade with the 

 intention of devouring him ; but both having hold on a meal 

 which neither chooses to relinquish, it is a mere question of 

 which one first reaches the jaws of the other, and which 

 pair of jaws happens to be most widely extended. A case is 

 recorded in iV^^///?-^, March 8th, 1877, of a Mr. L. Heiligbrodt 

 in Texas capturing an unusually thick 'Water moccasin' 

 {Ancistrodon pugnax), and on opening it finding a large 

 * Copperhead' {Ancistrodon contortrix), recently swallowed. 



This was ' the only case on record,' for it is very unusual 

 for the Crotalidce to eat each other ; and very probably, in 

 this instance, the cause was a mutual meal. ' Moccasins ' 

 [Tropidonoti) at the Gardens sometimes have such a hard grip 

 on each other as to fetch blood. I once saw two of these 



