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THE RINGED SNAKE 



Is common in all parts of Europe, frequenting woods, 

 moist hedges, and shady places. Its colour varies very 

 much, but is generally a pale olive or bluish grey on the 

 upper parts, marked along the sides by a row of transverse 

 black streaks, terminating in spots of the same colour ; 

 there is a kind of collar round the neck formed of crescent 

 shaped patches of black and pale yellow: the under parts 

 are mixed of black and a whitish colour. The head is 

 rather small and covered with large scaly plates : the 

 scales of the upper parts are a little carinated : the tail is 

 moderately long, tapering towards the end. This snake is 

 quite harmless, and may be made tolerably tame. It preys 

 chiefly on frogs, mice, small birds, insects, &c. It some- 

 times frequents the water for the sake of the frogs, &c. ; it 

 swims, but not swiftly. It deposits its eggs in a warm and 

 moist situation, in the form of a continued chain ; their 

 number is from fourteen to twenty, they are about the size of 

 a blackbird and of a whitish colour. The snake becomes 

 torpid during the winter, and casts its skin at its time of 

 awakening in the spring. 



THE WATER SNAKE 



Is so called from its habitual residence in the water; 

 it very much resembles the slow-worm in external appear- 

 ance, and is principally distinguished by its flattened 

 tail. 



THE GREAT HYDRUS 



Is more than three feet in length, of a pale livid colour, 

 with large dusky bands across the back. Its head is of a 

 middling size ; the body increases gradually, and then 

 decreases more abruptly towards the tail, where it is the 

 smallest; the tail spreads into a long oval, and is covered 

 with scales like those of a fish. It is an inhabitant of the 

 salt water, and its history is little known ; some of the 

 teeth are tubular, like those of the poisonous serpents. 

 This animal is a native of the Indian Seas. There are about 

 twelve species of the hydrus genus. 



