

Reptilia 101 



account of the food, which consists entirely of fishes and 

 amphibians, notably of frogs ; toads are occasionally eaten, but 

 mice are never taken, although a Radiograph was once exhibited 

 at a learned Society's Meeting showing a Grass-snake in the 

 act of swallowing a mouse, but horribile dictu, the mouse 

 had been shoved by force into the unwilling snake's mouth ! 

 The Grass-snake never bites, although hissing and striking 

 out furiously with its head. Its only defence, when caught, 

 consists of the contents of the cloaca and the anal glands, the 

 voided mess having an abominable odour. 



Pairing takes place here in May or June ; the numerous eggs 

 are laid from July to the end of August, in mould, heaps of 

 weeds, or in manure heaps. The eggs are not laid in strings, 

 but they soon stick together by contact. As a rule they do 

 not contain any visible sign of the embyro, but it often 

 happens that the snake has to delay oviposition, as often 

 occurs with captive specimens, and in such a case the embryos 

 are more or less advanced. 



Grass-snakes used to occur not unfrequently along the 

 meadows of the Cam, for instance at Coe-fen, and even at 

 the Backs of the Colleges. In the Fens they are still 

 common. 



Coronella laevis, the Smooth snake, does not occur in East 

 Anglia. 



Vipera verus, the Viper, ought to be a very common 

 species in this county, considering the many localities which 

 would at first sight seem to be well suitable for this 

 creature. But it is a rare species. I myself have never 

 found one, and I do not know of a single instance of the 

 occurrence of a specimen in the county, either on the sunny 

 slopes of the chalky Gog-Magogs, or on the Boulder Clay 

 towards Essex, or in the clammy Fens. The Rev. L. Jenyns 

 wrote in 1835 "In Cambridgeshire very rare," and in 1859 

 " Has occurred in a few instances in the neighbourhood 

 of Cambridge, but is apparently very rare in the county, and 

 I have never met with it myself." 



