NA.TATORES. 



NATRIX. 



1M4 



XATATCXRES, linker's name for the Swimming Bird* Swan* 

 Duclu, Geese, Ac. [Docis.) 



NATICA. [NERITIDJL] 



NATRIX (Laurenti), a genus of ColbriJ<r, a family of Snake* 

 destitute of poison-fang*, and of which the Common Snake, A', ton/tutta 

 of Ray, may be taken as an example. 



The bead is distinct, oblong-ovate, depressed, covered with scuta ; 

 gape wide, body very long, nearly cylindrical, slender, scales imbri- 

 cated, placed in longitudinal series, lanceolate, generally carinated; 

 nbdominal shields simple, arched at the margin, caudal shiejils bUeriaL 

 Bell.) 



IIJ and Ull of Xalri*. Head sera from abort ; tall from below. 



A', torquaia, Ray, Fleming, Jenyns, Bonaparte ; Coluber Ufatrix, 

 Linn., Shaw, Daudin, Turton ; Coluber lorgualtu, Lace'pede ; Matrix 

 rulyarii, Laurenti ; Tropidonotui jVa/rir, Kuhl, Gray, Schlegel; Ringed 

 Snake, Pennant; Couleuvre a Collier, LacdpMe. It is the Ringelnatter 

 of the Germans, and Tomt-Orm, Snok, and Ring-Orm of the ' Fauna 

 Suecica.' 



The Common or Ringed Snake is too well-known to require descrip- 

 tion : the female is larger than the male. Its food consists of lizards, 

 young birds, birds' eggs, mice, and more particularly frogs. The latter 

 are generally captured by one of the hind legs, and in that case the 

 prey is swallowed alive, and with the lower limbs and parts foremost, 

 the head still continuing in its proper position, and disappearing last. 

 During the operation of deglutition the cries of the frog are very 

 distresiing, and we have delivered more than one from its enemy 

 unfairly perhaps, in consequence of being attracted by the cries of the 

 sufferer. The frog evidently remains alive for some time after it has 

 been swallowed, in the course of which the jaws of the make are 

 dilated, and, so to speak, dislocated in order to allow of the passage 

 of the disproportioned body to be conveyed into the stomach. Mr. Bell, 

 who gives in his ' British Reptiles ' a very accurate and clear accounl 

 of the manner in which this operation is performed and the dilatation 

 effected, states that he has heard a frog distinctly utter its peculiar 

 cry several minutes after it had been swallowed by the make. The 

 name zoologist observes that the frog is generally taken by one of the 

 hinder extremities, because the latter is most frequently in the act o 

 fleeing from its pursuer when taken ; and in that case, the prey 

 according to bis experience, is swallowed as we have above described 

 but he adds, that if the frog be taken by the middle of the body, the 

 snake invariably turns it by several movement* of the jaws, until the 

 head is directed towards the throat of the snake, when it is swallowet 

 head foremost In taking lizards or birds, the snake, as far as Mr 

 Bell's observation goes, always swallows them head foremost. The 

 same author gives a curious but painful description of an instance 

 where two snakes bad seized the same wretched frog, which, after a 

 long and painful struggle, and some fighting between the snakes, was 

 swallowed by the victor. 



When the skin of the common snake has been just cast, it is a ver 

 beautiful serpent, and those who have seen it, as we have, graceful!; 

 swimming with elevated head and neck, and with the sun shining on 

 iU ' enamelled skin,' a* it crossed the limpid water of some clear 

 stream or little lake, will acknowledge its elegance and beauty. Mr. lie! 

 hat the following observations upon the subject of this change of th 

 nkin. " Snakes, like most other Rrptilia, shed their cuticle or oute 

 skin at greater or less intervals. It is a mistake to assign a particula 

 period to this process ; some have stated it to occur once, some twice 

 in the summer; but I have found it to depend upon the temperature 

 of the atmosphere, and on the state of health, and the more or less 

 frequent feeding of the animal. I have known the akin shed four o 

 five time* daring the year. It is always thrown off by reversing it 

 so that the transparent covering of the eyes, and that of the scale 

 also, are always found in the exuvise. Previously to this curiou 

 circumstance taking place, the whole cuticle becomes somewha 

 opaque, the eyes are dim, and the animal is evidently blind. It alac 

 becomes more or lew inactive, until at length, when the skin is read; 

 to be removed, being everywhere detached, and the now skin perfect! 

 bard underneath, the animal burst* it at the neck, and creepiu 

 through some dense herbage, or low brushwood, leaves it attach* 

 and comro forth in far brighter and clearer colours than before." 



White and other* have remarked an offensive power in this creature, 



that of ' stinking se defendendo,' as White describes it. He adds, " I 



:ncw a gentleman who kept a tame snake, which was in it* penon a* 



weet a* any animal while in good humour and uualormed ; but a* 



soon a* a stranger or a dog or cat came came hi, it fell to biasing, and 



illed the room with such nauseous effluvia as rendered it hardly sup- 



Mjrtable." But this offensive odour, which is expelled from certain 



land*, is not emitted in self-defence alone. It is also said to be the 



concomitant of sexual excitement. 



The ringed snake is oviparous, a* U the rest of the genus. The 

 eggs, to the number of 16 or 20, are deposited in a connected chain 

 n some dung-heap or warm situation, the connection being effected 

 >y a glutinous substance, and there left till the heat of the place or 

 of the Bun calls the young into life. Preparations illustrative of the 

 anatomy of the Snake are to be Been in the Museum of the Hoyal 

 College of Surgeons of England. 



The common snake commences its hibernation in some warm hedge, 

 under the root of a tree, or other sheltered situation, about the end 

 of autumn ; and then they coil themselves up, sometimes in number*, 

 till the spring again brings them forth. Many instances of tame snake* 

 lave been recorded. Mr. Bell gives the following account, showing 

 that snakes may be made to distinguish those who caress and feed 

 them. " I had one many years since, which knew me from all other 

 persons ; and when let out of hi* box would immediately come to me, 

 md crawl under the sleeve of my coat, where he was fond of lying 

 perfectly still, and enjoying the wurmth. He was accustomed to come 

 :o my hand for a draught of milk every morning at breakfast, which 

 IB always did of bis own accord, but he would fly from strangers and 

 lias if they meddled with him." 



Common or Wngrcl Snake (Xalriz lorqaala}. 



The editor of the last edition of Pennant's ' British Zoology,' th 

 Rev. L. Jenyns, and Mr. Bell, are all of opinion that the Dumfries- 

 shire Snake of Sowerby's ' British Miscellany ' is probably an immature 

 variety of this species. The editor of Pennant seems however to be 

 in doubt whether it is the young of the Aberdeen Snake, A nyuu Eryx, 

 or of the ffatrix here treated of. But there can, we apprehend, be 

 hardly any doubt that the Dumfriesshire Snake is the young of JV. 

 toryuata. The Aberdeen Snake is nothing more than the Slow-Worm 

 or Blind-Worm. [BLIND-WORM.] Mr. Macgillivray states that he has 

 never seen the Ringed Snake in Scotland. 



Geographical Distribution. Europe, " from Scotland and the corres- 

 ponding latitude of the Continent, to Italy and Sicily." (IMI.) 



With reference to the alleged inability of reptiles to live in Ireland, 

 Mr. Bell says, " I have already mentioned the existence otLacerla ni/ilia 

 there, and with respect to the present species, the following is the 

 result of my inquiries. It would appear not only that the Couiiii"ii 

 Snake is not indigenous to Ireland, but that several attempts to intro- 

 duce it have totally failed. Mr. Boll some time since informed mo of 

 some trials of this kind." Mr. Bell then prints the following letter from 

 Mr. Thompson, which he had recently received, and which, as Mr. Bell 

 observes, gives a very detailed and clear account of the actual facU. 



" In this order (Ophidia) there is not now, nor, I believe, ever was 

 there, any species indigenous to Ireland. In the Edinburgh 'New 

 Philosophical Journal,' for April, 1835, it is remnrkn] : ' We have 

 learned from good authority that a recent importation of snakes has 

 been made into Ireland, and that at present they are multiplying 

 rapidly within a few miles of the tomb of St. Patrick.' ' I never,' 

 proceeds Mr. Thompson, 'heard of this circumstance until it was 

 published, and subsequently endeavoured to ascertain its truth, by 

 inquiring of the person* about Downpatrick (where the tomb of St. 

 Patrick is) who are best acquainted with these subjects, not one of 

 whom had ever heard of snakes being in the neighbourhood. Recol- 

 lecting that about the year 1831, a snake i A', lon/uula), immediately 



