ITEMS OF SNAKE KNOWLEDGE. 
One night he set a wire rat-trap. 
necked Cobra was found 
inside the cage, with a rat 
in its stomach. 
The Mole Snakes and 
Boomslangs in the Port 
Elizabeth Museum some- 
times swallow pigeons’ 
eggs whole. The shell is 
dissolved within twenty- 
four hours or so by the 
snakes’ gastric juices. 
The gastric or stomach 
juices of asnake can digest 
bones, skin and horn. 
Snakes drink by suck- 
ing the water into their 
mouths. 
Snakes do not suck 
eggs. If egg-shells are 
found with a_ portion 
bitten out and the con- 
tents gone, probably a 
Leguan, Meercat or a 
Mungoose has done it. 
Snakes cannot bite bits 
out of egg-shells, or bore 
holes into them. 
The tongue of a snake, 
when in repose, is with- 
drawn into a sheath in 
the lower jaw. The end 
of the windpipe lies over 
this sheath. 
Snakes cast their skins 
regularly. It comes off 
inside out in a complete 
condition, even to the 
transparent eye scales. 
Pythons often sink 
themselves in water with 
the nostrils only above the 
surface. In this position 
they lie and watch for 
animals coming to drink. 
The victim is seized by the. 
nose when it stoops to 
drink. 
Natural History know- 
ledge in the 18th century 
was evidently at a low ebb. 
An author in 1796, in 
writing about a_ snake, 
471 
Next morning a half-grown Black- 
Elizabeth Museum, 3rd April, rg911. This is the eighteenth 
sx Puff Adders have been born at this museum. 
So 
nd her young ones born at the Port 
time batches of youn 
Fic. 159.—A Puff Adder a 
says: ‘ He hisses like a mountain eagle, and he bellows like a bull.” 
