260 ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE. 



The following interesting observation on the intelli- 

 gence of snakes shows, not only that these animals are well 

 able to distinguish persons, and that they remember their 

 friends for a period of at least six weeks, but also that 

 they possess an intensity of amiable emotion scarcely to 

 be expected in this class. Clearly the snakes in question 

 were not only perfectly tame, but entertained a remark- 

 able affection for those who tended and petted them. The 

 facts were communicated to me by Mr. Walter Severn, the 

 well-known artist, who was a friend of Mr. and Mrs. Mann, 

 the gentleman and his wife to whom the snakes belonged. 

 Mr. and Mrs. Mann having got into trouble with their 

 neighbours on account of the fear and dislike which their 

 pets occasioned, legal proceedings were instituted, and so 

 the matter came before the public. Mr. Severn then 

 wrote a letter to the Times, in order to show that the 

 animals were harmless^ From this letter the following is 

 an extract : — 



I happen to know the gentleman and lady against whom a 

 complaint has been made because of the snakes they keep, and 

 I should like to give a short account of my first visit to them. 



Mr. M., after we had talked for a httle time, asked if I had 

 any fear of snakes; and after a timid 'No, not very,' from me, he 

 produced out of a cupboard a large boa-constrictor, a python, 

 and several small snakes, which at once made themselves at 

 home on the writing-table among pens, ink, and books. I was 

 at first a good deal startled, especially when the two large snakes 

 coiled round and round my friend, and began to notice me with 

 their bright eyes and forked tongues; but soon finding how 

 tame they were, I ceased to feel frightened. After a short time 

 Mr. M. expressed a wish to call Mrs. M., and left me with the 

 boa deposited on an arm-chair. I felt a httle queer when the 

 animal began gradually to come near, but the entrance of my 

 host and hostess, followed by two charming little children, put 

 me at my ease again. After the first interchange of civilities, 

 she and the children went at once to the boa, and, calling it by 

 the most endearing names, allowed it to twine itself most grace- 

 fully round about them. I sat talking for a long time, lost in 

 wonder at the picture before me. Two beautiful little girls 

 with their charming mother sat before me with a boa-constrictor 

 (as thick round as a small tree) twining playfully round the 

 lady's waist and neck, and forming a kind of turban round her 



