THE RING SNAKE. 27 



quite close. But, granting all these considerations, 

 one would still expect to disturb ring snakes more 

 often than one does. There must be something more 

 than these reasons to account for it ; most likely the 

 secret is in the accidental destruction of eggs, — 

 accidental, that is, from the snake point of view. 

 Manure-heaps are apt to be scattered over the ground 

 and ploughed or dug in, and rubbish- heaps are apt to 

 be the chosen spot for burning the garden refuse; 

 neither of which processes would be conducive to 

 the successful development of the embryo ring snakes. 

 Other eggs are no doubt destroyed by different 

 animals, possibly as food (why should not rats eat 

 the eggs ?), and others again may be trodden upon 

 or destroyed by pressure in different ways. Some 

 such accidents as these must be partly responsible ; 

 and lastly, conditions of climate have to be taken 

 into account. It frequently happens that the young 

 are not hatched out in the autumn, but lie unde- 

 veloped till the following spring. During a very 

 severe winter many eggs may quite conceivably be 

 frozen beyond recovery, and so, in spite of the large 

 number of eggs deposited, ring snakes are somewhat 

 infrequently met with. 



Eing snakes are interesting pets to keep in cap- 

 tivity, not savage, and even if they did bite, no harm 

 would follow. 



The following complete classification may assist in 

 referring to scientific works, and the list of synonyms 



