WHITE OF SELBORNE ON SNAKES. 



" This would be adding wonder to 

 wonder, and instancing in a fresh 

 manner that the methods of Provi- 

 dence are not subject to any mode 

 or rule, but astonish us in new lights, 

 and in various and changeable ap- 

 pearances " (p. 1 1 1). These quota- 

 tions, and those to follow, are taken 

 from his observations on subjects in 

 which he was perfectly at home, and 

 are now applied to those of which 

 he knew very little, as he admitted, 

 and for that reason are much more 

 applicable to the two questions on 

 hand. 



In America snakes are found 

 pregnant with eggs in the spring, 

 or early in the summer; then the 

 eggs are hatched in the ground, and 

 the young are found with the mother 

 or inside of her. The interval be- 

 tween the laying and the hatching 

 may be six weeks ; the Illinois gen- 

 tleman says it may be four or five 

 weeks, so difficult is it to arrive at 

 the time actually required, to say 

 nothing of the uncertainty of a per- 

 son's memory in regard to what he 

 has casually observed. The Vir- 

 ginia Negro said that the eggs he 

 found when hoeing his Indian corn 

 could not possibly have been de- 

 posited till after the ground was 

 ploughed, which could not have 

 been more than six weeks previous 

 to the eggs being found very near 

 the hatching point. In the Middle 

 and Western States the ground is 

 ploughed for corn say about the ist 

 of May, planted on the 8th, and 

 hoed on the 3ist, which would make 

 a month ; and allow a week more 

 for the Virginia style of farming, 

 and we have about five weeks for 

 the eggs to mature. The time that 

 intervened between the dog shaking 

 the eggs out of the snake and its 

 owner finding a nest of them nearly 

 ready to hatch (although they were 

 of different species) was exactly a 

 month ; so that four or five weeks 

 would be a safe estimate for the 

 time a snake's eggs require to 

 hatch. I admit that there may be 



some difference between the British 

 and American snakes, as there is 

 between .the rabbits, for the Ameri- 

 can rabbit does not burrow as 

 illustrated by an American's remark 

 when he said, " I will give ^5 for 

 every hole dug by an American rab- 

 bit, which does not show even a 

 scrape of its foot on the ground." 

 But between the snakes there can- 

 not be such a difference as is im- 

 plied in White's remark, when he 

 says : " Snakes lay chains of eggs 

 every summer in my melon beds, in 

 spite of all that my people can do 

 to prevent them, which eggs do not 

 hatch till the spring following, as I 

 have often experienced " (p. 70.) 

 Both snakes lay chains of eggs, and 

 deposit them in the ground ; but 

 why should the eggs of British 

 snakes be laid in the summer, and 

 remain in the earth all the winter, 

 and be hatched in the spring, when 

 the eggs of the American snakes 

 are hatched in four or five weeks 

 after being laid ? White's assertion 

 is contrary to the analogy of nature, 

 for it is only the insects on land, 

 existing but for a season, that leave 

 eggs to be hatched the following 

 year. White, by his own account, 

 had many opportunities for experi- 

 menting on the hatching of snakes' 

 eggs. He could easily have sur- 

 rounded a nest, when they would 

 have hatched, although the assist- 

 ance of the mother might have beer 

 necessary to remove the soil, to 

 allow the young ones to come to the 

 surface ; but he throws no light on 

 the subject. Even in regard to his 

 favourites, the birds, he says: " I 

 am no bird catcher ; and so little 

 used to birds in a cage, that I fear, 

 if I had one, it would soon die for 

 want of skill in feeding" (p. 116). 

 It is difficult to account for his an- 

 tipathy, as that of a naturalist, to 

 snakes when they could not injure 

 his melon beds, and his indifference 

 to their peculiarities, when he had 

 such opportunities for observing 

 them, for he says : " The reptiles, 



