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SNAKES. 239 
much dearer than this. Of course, the price of this and other 
Snakes depends upon the supply and demand, and the season 
during which they are imported. 7’. septemvittatus will feed on 
frogs, small toads, newts, and tiny fish. 
The Mocassin Snake (Z'ropidonotus fasciatus) is an exceedingly 
hardy North American Snake, which has often been confounded, 
owing to its English name, with the Water Viper or Water 
Mocassin (Cenchris piscivora). T'. fasciatus is quite innocuous, and 
altogether a very suitable inmate of a Vivarium. It is generally 
a most ready feeder. Ithink I have read that Dr. Stradling 
possesses, or possessed a specimen which was so tame, that while 
being held im the hand it would swallow a frog. The Mocassin 
Snake will not only take as food frogs, newts, and small fish, 
but also, sometimes, pieces of raw meat. Occasionally, how- 
ever, a representative of this species may be found to be a shy 
feeder. 
T. fasciatus in a state of freedom lives in the neighbourhood of 
water, or in water ; and it was probably owing to this habit, and 
also, perhaps, because it 1s viviparous, that Catesby, the author 
of ‘ The Natural History of Carolina,” was induced to call it the 
““Brown Water Viper ;”’ hence, possibly, its frequent confusion 
‘with the poisonous reptile, C. piscivora. Unlike its near relative 
T. natriz, the Mocassin Snake is often quite ready to bite, the 
.. bite of course being harmless. This readiness to attack, and the 
animal’s stout, heavy-looking build and rather sinister expression, 
tend to make people look upon it with suspicion. It is not seldom 
pointed out by visitors to the Reptile House, Regent’s Park, as 
an exceedingly dangerous reptile; the name and appearance both 
conducing to this mistake. 
Several specimens of the Snake have been born from time to 
time in the Zoological Gardens, London, and were reared upon 
small frogs. The Mocassin Snake has sometimes produced live 
young ones and eggs at the same time. 
The head of 7’. fasciatus has a close resemblance to that of 7’ 
natriz. The former, however, has rather smaller eyes, inter- 
nasals narrower in front, and one more upper labial than the 
latter. The Mocassin Snake possesses also strongly keeled scales, 
which are placed in from twenty-three to twenty-seven rows; the 
