NOTE-BOOK OF A NATURALIST. 229 



the reptiles, whose lower organization and aptitude for 

 heat, combined with the comparative absence of anything 

 that could taint the air, offered no similar offence to the 

 senses, while the lives of the animals themselves were 

 not placed in jeopardy; and so, notwithstanding the 

 croakings and forebodings, this Beptile-house has become 

 one of the most popular exhibitions of that most popular 

 vivarium. At the risk of being thought somewhat pre- 

 sumptuous, I beg to recommend this instance to the 

 consideration of those, whose higher destinies are inter- 

 woven with zoological John's political brother. The 

 latter, like the former, is, as we have already hinted, 

 long suffering ; but when he becomes restive in earnest, 

 it is time to look out and take warning, or, depend upon 

 it, he will toss and gore several persons. 



The first remark made by an accurate observer, on 

 looking round the apartment now dedicated to the vep- 

 tilia, will probably refer to the fixed attitude in which 

 they remain. There they stand or lie, motionless as 

 statues. Here and there a snake may occasionally be 

 seen to creep or raise itself, and a lizard to change its 

 position, but, generally speaking, especially in the broad 

 day, they are perfectly still ; and there are times when 

 not one is in motion behind the glass cases in which 

 they are confined. At such periods, those may be ex- 

 cused who have taken the whole of the reptiles in this 

 room for stuffed specimens. The inhabitants of that 

 Oriental city who figure so awfully in the Ai-abian tale, 

 turned into stone for their crimes, with the exception of 

 the lonely one Avhose voice Avas heard reading the Koran 

 in the midst of -the petrified sinners, could not have 

 looked more lifeless. 



Why is this ? 



Because all predatory reptiles, especially snakes and 

 lizards, take their prey by surprise ; and, added to this 

 motionless habit, the animal's haunt, when on the look- 

 out for prey, coincides generally so harmoniously with 



