22 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



to force their heads between, and very likely do other damage if 

 they succeed. 



There is another contingency also, which makes it decidedly 

 advisable to guard against leaving open spaces in any accessible 

 position with certain serpents, and which has given rise to awk- 

 ward contretemps more than once in our own and other zoological 

 collections. I will relate a personal incident, by way of proving 

 that the possibility to which I allude is no mere fanciful one. I 

 was once bringing home from Brazil a large female Rattlesnake, 

 which I had allowed to remain in the deal box covered with gal- 

 vanised wire-netting in which I had bought her, for the simple 

 reason that I had no better accommodation to spare on the 

 voyage. Going to my cabin one afternoon, I met a little Rattle- 

 snake climbing over the cant of the door ; found two more at 

 large inside ; and was luckily just in time to prevent thirteen 

 others from roving from the maternal home. Whether these 

 sixteen constituted the entire brood, or whether some got adrift 

 and were never discovered, I cannot say ; but the uncertainty 

 was not a pleasant one, either for me or my neighbours. 



Glass, then, must be the medium through which the snakes, 

 large or small, are to be viewed, and due regard must be paid to 

 the strength of this. If a single sheet is used it should be of a 

 greater thickness than what would be called for in a number of 

 smaller panes. A big Python missing its aim when striking at 

 its prey, or (as will occasionally happen) darting at some object 

 outside its cage, sends its head against the glass with a thud 

 which is not likely to be forgotten by any one who is present at 

 the time ; and even the passive weight of part of its body, over- 

 balanced when reared aloft to its utmost extent, or rolling off a 

 branch, may strike a blow which will test its resistance severely. 

 And not only the pane itself, but the manner in which it is fixed 

 demands particular attention. Some years ago an immense 

 Anaconda, which had just been put into one of the largest com- 

 partments in the Beptilium at the Zoological Gardens, lying 

 doubled between the glass and the tree in the centre, quietly ex- 

 panded its coil — "stretching itself" — and pushed the- front of 

 the cage right out, the frame being forced away from its con- 

 nections ! 



If the height be such that the snakes cannot reach it under 

 any circumstances, or can at most only touch it without being 



