Reptiles. 9611 



is right in saying that Coronella austiiaca is irascible and ever ready 

 to bite. (Wagler has, in consequence, named the genus " Zacholus," 

 from the Greek, signifying "irritable.") While the two which 1 pro- 

 cured from Silesia never attempted to use their teeth, and were par- 

 ticularly gentle, suffering me to take them up, without making any 

 effort to escape, others which I have had ii» my possession would bite 

 at the finger on the slightest provocation, hanging on by their teeth, 

 and it needed some violence to remove them. A drop of blood 

 generally oozed from the wound, but I never found that the slightest 

 inflammation or other ill consequence followed from the bite. One of 

 ray captives, a male, was so exceedingly irritable that the mere ap- 

 proach of any one to its cage would excite it, causing it to raise its 

 head on high, open its jaws to their fullest extent, and utter a low but 

 very perceptible hissing sound. From numerous experiments which 

 I have made I can fully bear out the opinions already given by many 

 naturalists, that neither mammals nor birds are in the least degree 

 affected by the bite of the Coronella. 



The vitality of C. austriaca is one of its leading characteristics. In 

 the autumn of 1858 I was obliged to be absent from home lor five 

 weeks. As I had no one at that time to whom I could safely entrust 

 ray yjets 1 determined to take them with me. 1 therefore packed them 

 into a vasculum, which was attached to a knapsack, and used by me 

 for collecting botanical specimens; and in this they travelled the 

 whole time I was from home. They were not in the least affected by 

 the close confinement to which they were subjected, but returned to 

 Dresden with me in safety and good health. 



With the exception of one or two, the whole of my specimens 

 eventually came to an unhappy end. As winter came on, hybernation 

 commenced as usual. Unfortunately, during my absence on a fort- 

 night's journey, a large fire was lighted in the room in which their 

 cage was placed. Aroused by the heat, the vitality of the famishing 

 animals gradually exhausted itself, and within a few days they were 

 all dead. 



I can say very little with regard to the propagation of this species. 

 At the end of August the female lays a number of eggs of a whitish 

 colour, seven-tenths of an inch in length, from which emerge the fully 

 developed young ; these are at first of a yellowish white, but in a iew 

 days turn to a darker colour. 



The Coronella austriaca appears to be widely spread, but to be no- 

 where so frequent as Tropidonotus natrix. For a home it chooses, in 

 preference, rocky ground overgrown with wood, secreting itself among 



