27-1 THE SNAKES OF SOUTH AFRICA. 



identify your specimen, take or send it to the nearest museum, 

 and ask for information. The best plan is to collect two specimens. 

 Keep one for yourself, and send the other to a museum as a 

 donation, and ask the museum officials to let you know its name. 

 If they cannot identify it themselves, they will send it to some 

 authority on snakes, who will be able to tell them. 



First of all, learn to recognize the three great divisions — the 

 solid-toothed, harmless snakes ; the intermediate, back-fanged 

 snakes ; and the typically venomous, front-fanged snakes. 



In the preservation of snakes, a wood-spirit known as formalin 

 is frequently used. It is sold by all chemists. It has the advan- 

 tage of being quite colourless, and it does not dissolve out the 

 colouring matter of the specimen to the same extent as does 

 alcohol. However, it often partly dissolves the bones of the 

 specimen, making it useless for dissection at any future time. I 

 have kept various reptiles in formalin for fifteen years, and they 

 are to-day as fresh as ever. The reptile should be injected 

 with pure formalin before pickling. Inject down the throat and 

 into several places in the abdomen with a syringe. The less light 

 which reaches the specimens the better, as light bleaches them. 

 The collection may be kept in a dark cupboard or on a shelf 

 in a feeble light, or with a curtain on rings hanging in front. 

 Formalin, if used, should be diluted. For the preservation of 

 snakes, add ten to fifteen parts of water to one of formalin. 

 It can be diluted to a greater extent if the specimen has had a 

 preparatory soaking for a few days, as mentioned above. 



To skin a snake with the intention of stuffmg it, the best plan 

 is to turn it inside out by removing the skin from around the lips, 

 working it down to the neck, and slowly drawing it off. Then 

 dust it over with a preservative mixture consisting of one-third 

 white arsenic and two-thirds burnt powdered alum, and carefully 

 turn the skin right side out again. Fill the body with fine saw- 

 dust to the proper dimensions, insert a piece of putty into the 

 neck, and replace the skull, after winding a little cotton wool on 

 it to replace the muscles and glands which have been removed. 

 Putty or modelling clay is, however, better than cotton wool. 

 Fasten the lips with tiny pins or a few stitches, as naturally as 

 possible. Put in a pair of artificial eyes, mould the body into its 

 natural shape, coil it in the position desired, and leave it aside to 

 dry. When quite stiff and dry, take out the pins or stitches from 



