144 REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS 



until May. In spite of its sensitiveness to cold it also 

 avoids excessive heat, and captive specimens should on 

 no account be exposed in summer to the full rays of the 

 sun. The eggs, few in number, five or six, are deposited 

 in hollow trees, holes in old walls, or in dung-heaps, in 

 July, and are hatched in September. The ^sculapian 

 Snake reaches six feet in length ; specimens of over four 

 feet, however, may be considered unusually large. 



The Leopard Snake, Coluber leopardinus, of slender 

 form, rarely exceeding three feet in length, is a beautiful 

 creature which inhabits Southern and South-Eastern 

 Europe. The typical form is pale brown above, with a 

 dorsal series of reddish-brown or scarlet, dark-edged, trans- 

 verse spots and a lateral series of smaller black spots. In 

 some specimens (variety quadrilineatus) the dorsal spots 

 are replaced by brown or red, black-edged stripes, giving 

 the snakes an appearance very different from that of the 

 typical form. The Leopard Snake, an agile climber, 

 spending most of its existence on low bushes, feeds on 

 very small mammals, birds, and occasionally on lizards. 

 A decidedly viciously disposed creature, this snake does 

 not stand confinement, captive specimens seldom living 

 for more than a year, especially when kept at a high 

 temperature. The eggs, which number two to five, 

 are probably laid late in the summer, as specimens in 

 the Zoological Society's Gardens, upon which I kept 

 observation, paired in the beginning of July. 



The Ladder Snake, Coluber scalaris, another European 

 species, inhabiting the South of France and the Pyrenean 

 Peninsula, may be easily recognized by its strongly project- 

 ing pointed snout. It reaches a maximum length of four 



