128 THE HOG-NOSE SNAKE. 



was not readily found. The motions of the Snake while in the water are peculiarly 

 graceful, and the rapid progress is achieved by a beautifully serpentine movement of the 

 body and tail. 



This Snake is susceptible of kindness, and if properly treated, soon learns to know its 

 owner, and to suffer him to handle it without displaying any mark of irritation. Though 

 harmless and incapable of doing any hurt by its bite, the Snake is not without other 

 means of defence, its surest weapon being a most abominable and penetrating odour, which 

 it is capable of discharging when irritated, and which, like that of the skunk, adheres so 

 closely to the skin or the clothes, that it can hardly be removed even by repeated washings. 

 Moreover, it is of so penetrating a nature, that it cannot be hidden under artificial essences, 

 being obtrusively perceptible through the most powerful perfumes, and rather increasing 

 than diminishing in offensiveness by the mixture. The reptile will, however, soon learn to 

 distinguish those who behave kindly to it, and will suffer itself to be handled without 

 ejecting this horrible odour. 



The young of the Panged Snake are hatched from eggs, which are laid in strings in 

 some warm spot and left to be hatched by the heat of the weather or other natural means. 

 Dunghills are favourite localities for these eggs, as the heat evolved from the decaying 

 vegetable matter is most useful in aiding their development, and it often happens that a 

 female Snake obtains access into a hothouse and there deposits her eggs. Some persons 

 say that the mother is sometimes known to remain near the eggs, and to coil herself round 

 them as has already been related of the boa. The eggs are soft, as if made of parchment, 

 and whitish. They are found in chains containing fifteen or twenty, and are cemented 

 together by a kind of glutinous substance. 



During the winter the Snake retires to some sheltered spot, where it remains until the 

 warm days of spring call it again to action. The localities which it chooses for its winter 

 quarters are always in some well sheltered spot, generally under the gnarled roots of 

 ancient trees, under heaps of diy brushwood, or deep crevices. In these places the Snakes 

 will congregate in great numbers, more than a hundred having been taken from one 

 hollow. A few years ago I saw a hole from which a great number of Ringed Snakes had 

 been taken ; it was situated in a bank, at some depth. The colour of the Ringed Snake is 

 greyish green above and blue black below, often mottled with deep black. Behind the 

 head is a collar of golden yellow, often broken in the middle so as to look like two patches 

 of yellow. Behind the yellow collar is another of black, sometimes broken in the middle 

 also. Along the back run two rows of small dark spots, and a row of large, oblong spots 

 is arranged down each side. Both the colour and the shape of the spots are very 

 variable. 



The length of this reptile is generally about a yard, but it sometimes attains a length 

 of four feet. The female is always larger than the male. The generic title Tropidonotus 

 is formed from two Greek words signifying keel-backed, and is given to these Serpents 

 because the scales of the back are keeled. 



THE two Snakes represented in the accompanying illustration are well-known inha- 

 bitants of Northern America, and are dreaded from their fierce aspect, but without the 

 least reason. 



The HOG-NOSE SNAKE is so called from the odd formation of the muzzle, which is 

 rather blunt, and slightly turned up at the tip, something like the snout of a hog. It 

 generally frequents moist and marshy localities, as the edges of rivers and ponds, where it 

 finds a plentiful subsistence among the toads, frogs, lizards, and insects which swarm in 

 such spots. 



Although as harmless as our ringed Snake, and of similar dimensions, so that it need 

 not be feared on account of its bodily strength, the Hog-nose Snake is rather feared by 

 those who are not acquainted with its structure and habits. If it be irritated in any way, 

 it assumes a most threatening attitude, coils itself like a rattlesnake, flattening its head 

 after the fashion of venomous Serpents, utters a furious hiss, and.strikes at the foe with 

 the rapidity of lightning. Yet all this flourish of defiance is without the least foundation, 

 and although it might serve to intimidate the ignorant, only raises the mirth of the better 



