260 THE VIVARIUM. 
sub-caudals are in from seventy-two to ninety-three pairs ; and the 
anal scute is divided. The colour above is brown or black. The 
young of the species are marked with large dark spots which, 
when they disappear with age, are replaced by four dark lines 
(hence specific name). There are several varieties of this Snake, 
of which the descriptions below are given by Mr. Boulenger in 
his ‘‘ Catalogue of Snakes.” 
(A.) Nearly uniform black above and on the posterior two-thirds 
of the lower parts. (C. obsoletus, Say). 
(B.) Dark brown above, but with distinct traces of the large 
spots ; belly largely blotched with blackish (C. alleghaniensis 
Holbr., C. lindheimeri, B. and G.). 
(c.) Pale brown above, with large dark brown spots ; yellowish 
inferiorly. (C. spiloides, D. and B.),. 
(D.) Spots, as in C, combined with stripes, as in E; belly with 
large spots. 
(E.) Pale brown above, with four dark brown or blackish stripes ; 
belly yellowish, without or with a few brown spots. (C. . 
quadrivittatus, Holbr.). 
The Chicken Snake comes from the United States, east of the 
Rocky Mountains. It is hardy enough to be kept in this country 
without artificial heat, and may be allowed, if it has fed well 
during the summer, to hibernate. Its food while in captivity 
should consist of young rats, small birds, and eggs. It will 
swallow, whole, eggs as large as those of an ordinary barn-door 
fowl. From this it may be readily seen why it has received its 
English name. 
The Aisculapian Snake (Coluber wsculapn, Sturm ; or C. longis- 
simus, Boulenger). AXsculapius, the mythological god of Health, 
had a temple at Epidaurus, where he was worshipped under the 
figure of a serpent. The priests attached to the temple tamed a 
Snake of the above species, which they taught, it is said, to follow 
any person where they pleased. The greater proportion of the 
people of that neighbourhood honoured the reptile as much as 
they did the god himself. The animal’s usual hole was under the 
beautiful statue of -Aisculapius, which the great sculptor 
Thrasymedes of Paros had made, and whenever the creature 
came forth from this retreat his appearance was understood to 
foretell the cure of some sick person. About 280 years B.c. the 
