THE GRASS SNAKE AND THE SMOOTH SNAKE 581 



putable — a three-footer is a fine specimen bite of a large specimen is, of course, to 

 — but there are plenty of certain records be avoided. The second group contains 

 of Grass Snakes approaching four feet in snakes which have one or more teeth in 

 length, and I have 

 myself handled an 

 amiable female of 

 forty-four inches. 



The superiority 

 in size of the ma- 

 ture female over 

 the mature male is 

 marked, though, as 

 is often the case 

 with reptiles, it is 

 the male who has 

 the longer and 

 more tapering tail. 

 I remember once en- 

 countering, on the 

 bank of a stream, 

 what I took to be 

 a female of a size 

 to beat all records, 

 and being dis- 

 appointed to find 

 that what I had 

 imagined was her 

 tail was, in reality, 

 a complete suitor 

 barely half her 

 length. 



Both our harm- 

 less snakes belong 

 to a very large 

 family, the Colii- 

 bridce, which has 

 been arranged by 

 Mr. Boulenger into 

 three groups, ac- 

 cording to the pre- 

 sence (or absence) 

 and the position in 

 the upper jaw of 

 grooved teeth. The 

 first group, the 

 members of which 

 have solid, groove- 

 less teeth, embraces 

 the sub-family of 

 Colubrines, to which 

 most of the snakes 

 kept as pets by the 

 ophiolatrous belong. 



All these are perfectly harmless, in the the back part of the upper jaw grooved, 

 sense that they are not venomous ; but Some of these are venomous, but none is 

 many of them bite with a will, and the so deadly as the members of the third 



74 



1. THE GRASS SNAKE. 2. THE SMOOTH SNAKE. 



In these pictures the resemblance between the head scales should be noticed. The 

 Smooth Snake is in the act of slouching, and the eye-scale has already loosened. 

 MivinS the eye an opaque appearance. 



