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SNAKES. 273 
The Hog-nosed Snake is found in the United States east of 
the Rocky Mountains. It is a very inoffensive little creature, 
hardly ever attempting to bite, even when much provoked to do 
so. It grows to a length of about 30in. Its food should consist 
of frogs. It need not be supplied with artificial heat while in 
captivity in this country, if it be allowed, provided that it is 
in good condition, to hibernate during the colder months of the 
year. 
The Smooth Snake (Coronella austriaca, Laur., or Coronella 
levis, Lacep., Fig. 74) is by far the most interesting of our three 
English Snakes. Less than half a century ago it was not recog- 
nised as a British reptile at all. ‘‘ Many years since,’ writes the 
late Mr. Bell in his British Reptiles, ‘‘a small Snake, having 
the characters of one of the Colubridw, was taken by Mr. J. W. 
Simmons near Dumfries. It was published as a new species of 
Mr. Sowerby in his British Miscellany, and figured in the 
third-plate of that work. It was there named Coluber dum- 
Frisiensis. The specimen remained until within the last few 
years in the possession of Mr. Sowerby’s family, but having come 
into my hands, it was unfortunately lost or mislaid, and I have 
never since been able to recover it. There is, I think, great 
reason to believe that it was a very young Natriz torquata, but 
differing certainly in many respects from the usual appearance and 
characteristics of that species. The most remarkable peculiarity 
mentioned, however, is, that the scales are simple, not carinated.”’ 
There is no doubt now that the Smooth Snake (Coronella levis) 
-and the Coluber Dumfrisiensis of Sowerby, are one and the same 
species. : 
Numerous specimens of this harmless and beautiful little Snake 
(C. levis) have been killed in mistake for the Common Viper 
(Pelias berus), which it not a little resembles in marking. It 
was owing, probably, to this likeness between the two Reptiles 
that the Smooth Snake has only, comparatively, very lately been 
classed as a native of Great Britain. It is fairly common on the 
Continent. 
Mr. Frederick Bond caught a male Smooth Snake at Ringwood, 
in Hampshire, in 1854, which was preserved in spirits, and 
ultimately sent to the British Museum. This is one of the 
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