SNAKES 77 



did so much damage amongst the glassware stored in 

 the workshop that it had to be removed, and the Rats 

 soon made their reappearance. A stuffed specimen of a 

 large Python was then substituted for the living one, and 

 for a long time proved very effectual as a "scarecrow," 

 but eventually the Rats overcame their terror of this 

 dummy and resumed possession of their old quarters. 



A certain number of Bornean snakes have burrowing 

 habits ; such are the species belonging to the genera 

 Typhlops, CylindrophiSy Xenopeltis and Calamaria. These 

 snakes, though belonging to different families, yet present 

 a general similarity that is brought about by the burrow- 

 ing habit. The head is blunt, the eyes small, the body 

 is shining and quite smooth, thus offering little resistance 

 to the soil as the snakes bore their way underground ; 

 they are, moreover, of almost equal diameter throughout, 

 so that without careful examination it is difficult to tell 

 where the body ends and the tail begins. The species 

 of Typhlops are the most modified for burrowing ; they 

 are little, worm-like snakes that spend nearly all their 

 life underground or under stones, and nothing seems 

 to be known of their habits. Cylindrophis rufus is a 

 very common species ; it is black with a few white spots, 

 an orange collar, and the tip of the tail is marked with 

 red and is pointed ; the ventral surface is banded with 

 black and white. This snake is extraordinarily flexible ; 

 when handled it assumes every sort of shape from 

 cylindrical to nearly flat and ribbon-like, and this 

 power of altering its form enables it to squeeze through 

 extremely narrow clefts. A specimen that I kept alive 

 in a box half filled with clay and covered with a bell- 

 jar pressed down into the clay until the rim touched 

 the bottom of the box, burrowed into the clay and 



