126 REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS 



often known as the Two-headed Snake, and is hawked about 

 by the Indian snake charmers, who mutilate or modify the 

 tail end, so as to make it resemble the head, these men 

 declaring not only that each end feeds in turn, but that 

 while the one end sleeps the other watches. 



Mr. C. R. Walter recently sent me some newly born 

 specimens, from a brood of nine, born in his Reptile 

 House. These were quite unlike their parents, being of 

 a uniform flesh-colour. A few months after birth the 

 colour changed, becoming pale coral red, and finally 

 assuming the sandy brown of the adult. 



The Javelin Eryx, E. jaculus, of South- Western and 

 Central Asia and North Africa, is particularly abundant in 

 Lower Egypt. This snake, which is similar in shape to 

 E. johnii, is greyish or reddish above, with dark brown 

 or blackish transverse blotches or alternating spots. A 

 deception by the Egyptian snake charmers is also practised 

 with this species, the snake's head being pierced, above 

 each eye, with hedgehog spines, and thus made to resemble 

 the venomous and much dreaded Horned Viper (Cerastes 

 cornutus). 



The family Colubrid^, which comprises the greater 

 number of living snakes, and forms the great bulk of the 

 order, is divided up into about 250 genera. The species 

 show almost every possible form and structure, as their 

 habits are as various as we can imagine. The majority 

 are typical ground snakes ; others, however, are burrowing, 

 arboreal, or aquatic. They are represented all over the 

 temperate and tropical regions, with the exception of 

 Ireland, New Zealand, and some of the islands of the 

 Pacific. The family is divided into three divisions — 



