166 THE VIVARIUM. 
jungle and kept it loose in his house for some days, under the 
impression that it was one of these creatures. During the whole 
of its captivity it never attempted to bite anyone, and its captor, 
who had been familiarly pulling it about by the tail, was only 
apprised of his mistake by a forest officer who happened to turn 
up, and who knew a good deal about snakes.”” The writer of the 
above has evidently lived in India, for he speaks of having occa- 
sionally seen a large specimen of the Hamadryas in the bags of 
snake-charmers. 
There are many erroneous ideas in regard to the size of the 
largest Snakes. One reads, for instance, of a Snake 30ft. in 
length swallowing a cow, and sometimes of Snakes being more 
than 40ft. long. A few weeks ago there was some correspond- 
ence upon this subject in the Feld. In one letter, Mr. Jamrach 
referred to his great experience with large Pythons, and said that 
he was prepared to give £1,000 for a Snake 30ft. long, and 
£10,000 for a Snake 40ft. in length. Therefore, I think it may 
be taken for granted that Snakes as long as 30ft. are not to be found. 
Not only in old books, but also in some modern ones, illustra- 
tions may be seen in which Snakes are represented as progressing 
by means of vertical motions of their body. In a “ Natural 
History of Reptiles,” published not fifty years ago, and which is 
now before me, there are illustrations of Serpents so pee 
A Snake cannot advance in this fashion. 
All the movements of a Snake are not only wonderful, but 
also exceedingly graceful. The wisest of men and one of the 
very earliest of naturalists said that one of the three things which 
were too wonderful for him was “the way of a serpent upon a 
rock ;” and I think it may be truly asserted that few things in 
nature are more astonishing than the movements of a Snake. It 
has no hands, and yet it is all hands; it has no feet, and yet it 
is all feet. This is a strange statement to make, but it will not 
appear altogether inapt to anyone who carefully watches, say, a 
small constricting Snake capturing and devouring its prey, and 
one of the very active Snakes travelling over the ground and 
ascending a tree. Concerning these Reptiles, Professor Huxley 
has said that “except flying, there is no limit to their locomo- 
tion,” and that ‘‘the most beautiful piece of anatomy he knew 
