NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



terrible enemy of the Otomys. The Puff Adder, 

 Cobra, and sundry other species of serpents lie 

 in ambush ready to inflict a bite which will almost 

 instantly paralyse them ; or, if they be non- 

 venomous species such as Mole Snakes, they envelop 

 the Otomys in their coils and squeeze the life out 

 of it. The adult Python, of course, merely snaps 

 them up in his powerful jaws and swallows them 

 forthwith, for to him so small a morsel as an 

 Otomys needs no constricting. 



Man does a foolish thing when he kills snakes 

 indiscriminately at sight. Several of them are 

 quite harmless, such, for instance, as the Mole 

 Snake (Pseudaspis cana), House Snake (Boodon), 

 and the Python (Python seh^). These non- 

 venomous species of snakes render man immense 

 services in killing rats and mice, and in return they 

 are done to death on every available occasion. It 

 is easy to learn to recognise these and other harm- 

 less species of snakes from the book entitled The 

 Snakes of South Africa, their Venom and the Treat- 

 ment of Snake Bite, or by forwarding the head and 

 neck of a snake to me for identification. 



The Vley Otomys averages 7 to 8 inches in length, 

 not including the tail, which is about 3i inches 

 long, scaly and covered with short bristles. The 

 fur on the back is thick and rather coarse. It is 

 slaty at the base ; some of the hairs are tipped with 

 black, and others brown, giving the animal a 

 speckled appearance. Under parts are slaty and 



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