154 THE SNAKES OF SOUTH AFRICA. 
artificially by syringing the beaten-up contents of fowls’ eggs 
down their throats and then putting them gently down, else 
they will vomit the food. The best way is to hold the snake 
in your hand for five minutes or so after feeding it, and then lay 
it very gently down in a warm cage. 
Dead frogs and bits of raw meat may be pushed gently into 
the snake’s throat and worked down with the fingers. 
Boomslangs descend to the ground to lay their eggs, which 
are usually placed under a thick layer of fermenting leaves or 
vegetable mould under tangled bushes. At other times the eggs 
may be laid in a Starling’s nest in a hole ina bank, or among 
the tangled roots of a forest tree. Warmth and moisture are 
necessary for the incubation of the eggs. On hatching out, the 
young Boomslangs almost immediately take to an arboreal life, 
and lead an existence entirely independent of their parent. 
The Boomslangs which are green, or variegated green and 
black, are strictly arboreal. The brown varieties are more or 
less terrestrial in their habits. For some considerable time I had 
a Boomslang alive which was intermediary between the variegated 
green and the dark-brown varieties. This specimen was blackish 
above, through which traces of greenish-yellow were visible in 
places. The “ blackishness”’ on the back shaded off on the 
sides and abdomen to yellowish green. The specimen was a 
female, and laid thirteen eggs during the month of October. 
On several occasions brown Boomslangs have laid batches 
of eggs varying in number from a dozen to twenty-three, 
containing a yellowish fluid, with no sign of incubation 
having already begun. The eggs are laid during midsummer, 
usually October, November, and December. On many occasions 
I have noticed the Boomslangs, which I have kept in captivity, 
swallow domestic pigeons’ eggs whole. These eggs are not 
crushed in the throat, as is the case with the Egg-eating Snake 
(Dasypeltis). They lodge in the stomach and remain there until 
the gastric juices dissolve the shell and release the contents, which 
sometimes takes several days. 
CONCLUSIONS, 
The Boomslang is a member of the Opisthoglypha or Hind- 
fanged snakes, which have hitherto been regarded by some 
