196 THE VIVARIUM. 
is induced to consume a meal which will last him for a consider- 
able time. 
The following arrangement I have found successful in tempting 
Snakes to swallow dead animals. A piece of thin cotton, about 
2in. long, is tied to the tail of a dead rat, or other suitable animal, 
and to the cotton is fastened a piece of strong thread, of a length 
sufficient to allow the nose of the dead animal to swing just clear 
of the floor of the Vivarium when the free end of the thread is 
affixed to a ring or hook in the roof of the case. The dead body 
will keep moving for a long time after it has once been put in 
motion. Even the Snake itself, while crawling about its den, 
is very likely to set the animal swinging again when it has stopped 
doing so. I once thus suspended a dead mouse for a large Dark 
Green or Angry Snake (Zamenis atrovirens), thinking that as the 
Reptile seized the animal the cotton by which it was partly hung 
would break and allow the act of deglutition to be successfully 
accomplished ; but next morning I saw a sight which I had not 
expected to see, viz., a Snake hanging with its head quite close to 
the roof of the Vivarium. The fact was, that a small Zamenis, 
which I did not think would feed during that night, had seized 
the suspended mouse, and not being strong enough to break the 
cotton, had continued swallowing its prey until its own head 
was brought into the position in which I found it. Some Snakes 
will even habitually take dead animals in preference to live 
ones. 
There is a way by which Snakes may be fed, even from their 
birth, without ever giving them live food. This method of feeding 
will be fully described in another place. Snakes do very well 
under such treatment, and if it be properly carried out, their 
owner is saved a great deal of trouble by not being obliged to 
procure the live animals, which are usually necessary for the feed- 
ing of these Reptiles. 
The Borde are divided into two sub-families, viz., the Pytho- 
nine and the Borne, the chief difference between them being a 
supra-orbital bone which is possessed by the former and not by 
the latter. The Pythonine comprises seven genera and about 
twenty-one species, and the Borne numbers thirteen genera and 
about forty-five species. 
