318 November 1784. 



eyes are fixed upon the little animal, and 

 from that moment it cannot efcape -, it be- 

 gins a doleful outcry, which is fo well 

 known, that a perfon paffing by, on hear- 

 ing it, immediately knows that it is charm- 

 ed by a fnake. The fquirrel runs up the 

 tree a little way, comes downwards again, 

 then goes up, and now comes lower again. 

 On that occafion it has been obferved, that 

 the fquirrel always goes down more than 

 it goes up. The fnake flill continues at 

 the root of the tree, with its eyes fixed on 

 the fquirrel, with which its attention is fo 

 entirely taken up, that a perfon accidental- 

 ly approaching, may make a confiderable 

 noife, without the fnake's fo much as turn- 

 ing about. The fquirrel as before-men- 

 tioned comes always lower, and at laft leaps 

 down to the fnake, whofe mouth is already 

 wide open for its reception. The poor lit- 

 tle animal then with a piteous cry runs in- 

 to the fnake's jaws, and is fwallowed at 

 once, if it be not too big ; but if its lize 

 will not allow it to be fwallowed at once, 

 the fnake licks it feveral times with its 

 tongue, and fmoothens it, and by that 

 means makes it fit for fwallowing. Every 

 thing elfe remarkable at this enchantment, 

 I have defcribed in a treatife inferted in the 

 Memoirs of the Royal Swedifh Academy of 



Sciences, 



