48 OUR REPTILES. 



this species is perfectly harmless, indeed rather 

 tractable under confinement, and certainly, in com- 

 mon with the rest of its tribe, exceedingly graceful 

 in its undulations, and possessed of a truly fascina- 

 ting eye. As we write this paragraph, a lively 

 individual about two feet in length is gazing intently 

 at the movements of our fingers, as if to divine 

 therefrom whether any malignant libel is being 

 penned, or whether the movements are those of 

 flattery. 



This species is truly oviparous. Its eggs, from 

 sixteen to twenty in number, attached together by a 

 glutinous secretion, are deposited in some favourable 

 locality, as a dunghill, and are hatched by the heat 

 developed, or that derived from direct exposure to 

 the sun. In this circumstance it will be seen to 

 differ from the viper. Knapp gives a good account 

 of a nest of snake's eggs : — 



My labourer, this July the 18tb, in turning over some manure, 

 laid open a mass of snake's eggs, fifteen only ; and they must 

 have been recently deposited, the manure having very lately 

 been placed where they were found. They were larger than the 

 eggs of a sparrow, obtuse at each end, of a very pale yellow 

 colour, feeling tough and soft, like little bags of some gelatinous 

 substance. The inner part consisted of a glareous matter like 

 that of the hen, enveloping the young snake, imperfect, yet the 

 eyes and form sufficiently denned. Snakes must protude their 

 eggs singly, but probably all at one time, as they preserve no 

 regular disposition of them, but place them in a promiscuous 

 heap. At the time of protrusion they appear to be surrounded 

 with a clammy substance, which, drying in the air, leaves the 



