REPTILES IN THE TARN AND THE GREEN LANES. 91 



adduced. Not only is the common snake perfectly 

 harmless much as you may have shuddered when you 

 unexpectedly disturbed it, perhaps whilst botanizing 

 but it is capable of being tamed to a considerable 

 degree. The Rev: J. C. Wood mentions boys at a 

 certain school, each of whom had his pet snake. 



Fig. 69. 



Eggs of Common bnake. 



Indeed, anecdotes of the harmless snakes are to be 

 found in plenty. Like nearly all reptiles, this 

 species brings forth its young in the egg. It usually 

 lays from sixteen to twenty, and fastens them together 

 by a glutinous secretion. A dunghill is a favourite 

 spot for their deposition, and we have seen old heaps 

 of stable manure in which hundreds of snakes' eggs 



