SNAKES 137 



of captive specimens. The eggs of the Wolf Snake, which 

 vary in number from two to about a dozen, are frequently 

 deposited in dwellings. 



Pseudaspts, represented by a single species, restricted to 

 South Africa, has the head but feebly distinct from the 

 neck, while the snout is somewhat pointed, but much less 

 so than in Lioheterodon. The body is stout and cylin- 

 drical, with very small scales (twenty-seven to thirty-one 

 rows) all smooth. In the upper jaw the posterior teeth 

 are longer than those in front, while in the lower the 

 reverse is the case. 



The Mole Snake, Pseudaspts cana, which reaches a total 

 length of six feet, is pale or dark brown or black in colour. 

 The black specimens were formerly believed to constitute 

 a distinct species or race, and named P. phocarum, after 

 Robben Island (" Robben," Dutch for seals), near the 

 Cape, where they are particularly abundant ; it has now, 

 however, been proved that the differences in colour are 

 not connected with geographical localities, and that the 

 black specimens produce young which are light brown 

 in colour, with darker, white-edged spots forming longi- 

 tudinal series, similar to those of the pale specimens. 



Although living well in captivity, the Mole Snake is 

 of a bold and vicious disposition, which it rarely shakes off. 

 The habit of raising the fore part of its head and body in 

 a cobra-hke fashion before preparing to strike, which has 

 been attributed to this reptile, has not been observed in 

 the three specimens kept by the writer. 



The Mole Snake is one of the most prolific of all snakes, 

 producing over eighty living young at a time. 



Zamenis, a terrestrial and often semi-arboreal genus. 



