CATCHING LIVE SNAKES. 267 
the wake of a female which had vanished from sight. Wherever 
the female crept, the male would be observed following. She 
would creep into some crevice or tuft of herbage and be quite 
concealed from view, yet the male would be seen slowly creeping 
along the track which she took. 
S. W. Smith; Esq., J.P., of Griquatown, told me an interesting 
experience in this connection. He said a female Puff Adder was 
killed in his flower garden under a geranium bush. The following 
day a male Puff Adder was seen and killed within a few feet of the 
spot where the female had been killed. Mr. Smith says that he 
and a native traced the spoor of the two snakes in the soft sandy 
soil for a couple of hundred yards and found that the male had 
followed the trail of the female, his spoor blending most of the 
time with that made by the female. This occurrence was quite 
fresh in Mr. Smith’s mind, it having taken place shortly before he 
saw me. He says he knows the spoor of a Puff Adder in the sand, 
and is positive the two spoors were not made at the same time, 
for one was partly obliterated and the other quite fresh. 
CATCHING LIVE SNAKES. 
Unless the snake collector is quite certain of the identity of 
snakes he should not take liberties when capturing them. 
If you know for certain they are of the harmless division such as 
the Mole Snakes, House Snakes, Green Water Snakes and others, 
then you may boldly advance and seize them. The only damage 
they are capable of doing is to puncture the skin slightly with their 
numerous small solid teeth. To avoid being bitten, hold a hand- 
kerchief in front of the snake, and when it bites the material, 
instantly seize it by the neck. 
Venomous snakes may be safely secured by pinning them down 
to the earth with a long stick with forks at the end of about an 
inch or so in length. 
If a snake is pinned down with a forked stick to the ground he 
is quite powerless, and can then be gripped by the neck and trans- 
ferred to a bag or box. Grip the neck just at the base of the head. 
Then let go the stick with the other hand and grasp the reptile’s 
tail. It is then utterly powerless. It is risky to hold a venomous 
snake by the neck and allow it to coil round the hand and arm. By 
