THE COMMON SNAKE. 47 



However one may shudder at the sight of a 

 snake, this species is perfectly harmless, indeed 

 rather tractable under confinement, and certainly, 

 in common with the rest of its tribe, exceedingly 

 graceful in its undulations, and possessed of 

 a truly fascinating eye. As we write this para- 

 graph, a lively individual about two feet in 

 length is gazing intently at the movements of 

 our fingers, as if to divine therefrom whether 

 any malignant libel is being penned, or whether 

 the movements are those of flattery. 



This species is truly oviparous. Its eggs, 

 from sixteen to twenty in number, attached 

 together by a glutinous secretion, are deposited 

 in some favourable locality, as a dunghill, and 

 are hatched by the heat developed, or that de- 

 rived from direct exposure to the sun. In this 

 circumstance it will be seen to differ from the 

 viper. Knapp gives a good account of a nest of 

 snake's eggs : 



My labourer, this July the 18th, in turning over some 

 manure, laid open a mass of snake's eggs, fifteen only ; and 

 they must have been recently deposited, the manure having 

 very lately been placed where they were found. They were 

 larger than the eggs of a sparrow, obtuse at each end, of a 

 very pale yellow colour, feeling tough and soft, like little 

 bags of some gelatinous substance. The inner part con- 

 sisted of a glareous matter like that of the hen, enveloping 

 the young snake, imperfect, yet the eyes and form sufficiently 

 denned. Snakes must protrude their eggs singly, but pro- 



