THREE COMMON REPTILES 



get in and deposit her eggs. At any rate, the 

 jar was so full of eggs that not another one 

 could have been got in. One of them which 

 had been accidentally broken contained a half- 

 developed snakelet, but others were quite clear. 

 Hoping they might yet develop into snakes I 

 buried the bottle in a hot-bed, but evidently 

 they had been too long in the cold, for they 

 never came to anything. 



Should you chance to find some snakes' eggs 

 in your hot-bed, vegetable-marrow heap, or in 

 some such spot, do not forget that they can be 

 only the common grass snake's eggs (for we 

 have but two other kinds of snakes in this 

 country, the adder and the smooth snake, 

 neither of which lay eggs), and that the grass 

 snake is a perfectly harmless creature, doing no 

 one any harm, so, instead of destroying them, 

 it will be better to leave them alone to hatch 

 out how and when they choose. If you should 

 meet with the old snake treat her too with 

 respect ; don't think her ugly and horrible just 

 because she is a snake, and then you will see 

 that even a snake is beautiful and interesting, 

 as indeed are most creatures if we look long 

 and carefully enough at them. As for the fear 

 of snakes that so many people express, it is, 

 R 257 



