CATCHING LIVE SNAKES. 267 



the wake of a female which had vanished from sight. Wherever 

 the female crept, the male would be observed following. She 

 would creep into some crevice or tuft of herbage and be quite 

 concealed from view, yet the male would be seen slowly creeping 

 along the track which she took. 



S. W. Smith, Esq., J. P., of Griquatown, told me an interesting 

 experience in this connection. He said a female Puff Adder was 

 killed in his flower garden under a geranium bush. The following 

 day a male Puff Adder was seen and killed within a few feet of the 

 spot where the female had been killed. Mr. Smith says that he 

 and a native traced the spoor of the two snakes in the soft sandy 

 soil for a couple of hundred yards and found that the male had 

 followed the trail of the female, his spoor blending most of the 

 time with that made by the female. This occurrence was quite 

 fresh in Mr. Smith's mind, it having taken place shortly before he 

 saw me. He says he knows the spoor of a Puff Adder in the sand, 

 and is positive the two spoors were not made at the same time, 

 for one was partly obliterated and the other quite fresh. 



Catching Live Snakes. 



Unless the snake collector is quite certain of the identity of 

 snakes he should not take liberties when capturing them. 

 If you know for certain they are of the harmless division such as 

 the Mole Snakes, House Snakes, Green Water Snakes and others, 

 then you may boldly advance and seize them. The only damage 

 they are capable of doing is to puncture the skin slightly with their 

 numerous small solid teeth. To avoid being bitten, hold a hand- 

 kerchief in front of the snake, and when it bites the material, 

 instantly seize it by the neck. 



Venomous snakes may be safely secured by pinning them down 

 to the earth with a long stick with forks at the end of about an 

 inch or less in length. 



If a snake is pinned down with a forked stick to the ground it 

 is quite powerless, and can then be gripped by the neck and trans- 

 ferred to a bag or box. Grip the neck just at the base of the head. 

 Then let go the stick with the other hand and grasp the reptile's 

 tail. It is then utterly powerless. It is risky to hold a venomous 

 snake by the neck and allow it to coil round the hand and arm. By 



