14 APPENDIX: NOS. XIlL-SX1Vi. 
del Cane ”’ I had been guided to by a country lad, when I suddenly 
came upon what at first sight seemed to be a common Viper’; after 
the first start, I seized it and threw it into an open space where I 
could observe its motions; the first thing that struck me was a 
pecuhar vibration of the tail, as though it would claim relationship 
to the Rattle-Snake; at the same time, it showed very little in- 
clination to bite, and had not that curling of the upper lip which a 
Viper shows when it is angry. I soon contrived to get it by the 
nape of the neck, and to examine it more closely. I found the pupils 
of its eyes were round, as in the Common Snake, not cat-like as in 
the Viper, and it had no poison-fangs; it had a meeker appearance 
than the Viper, but in colourmmg much more resembled it than the 
Snake. I must just add with reference to what I called the “ grotto 
del cane” that it is situated in a thicket, and is a little depression 
in the soil, perhaps six feet across, and three feet deep, in the 
bottom of which is a hole like a mouse-hole from which issues the 
carbonic acid (?) gas; I saw at the bottom a Common Toad in a 
state of putridity, upon which were settled several golden-bodied 
meat-flies, standing as if alive, though upon examination they proved 
to be dead. I held the puppy in the hole, breathing quicker and 
quicker, till it was to all appearance nearly dead, but it recovered 
almost immediately on being restored to good air. It had, | believe, 
accidentally followed my juvenile guide. 
[I am indebted to Dr. Gadow for supplying the names of the several Batrachians 
and the Snake above mentioned.—Eb. | 
XV. 
Tue SroatT CARRYING Ecos. 
[‘ Zoologist,’ v. (1847) pp. 1634 & 1635. | 
Tur following anecdote seems to me interesting, as explaining in 
some degree the mode in which eggs are so mysteriously moved, 
without breaking, by small predatory animals. ‘The narrator, who is 
a very accurate observer, declared to me that he has the most perfect 
recollection of the facts. Mr. Edward Hurt* was walking with a 
brother of his near Cheltenham, some thirty years ago, when they 
saw a Stoat cross the road, carrying something white between its chin 
and its breast: upon their running up it dropped its burden, which 
proved to be a full-sized hen’s egg; examining it, they could not 
detect the slightest marks of teeth upon the shell. They put it down 
1 [Coronella levis —Ep. | 
2 (An uncle of Mr. Wolley’s, who though here called an “accurate observer” 
could not be said to be a trained one, or to have any knowledge of or interest in 
Natural History.—Ep. } 
