TREATMENT OF SNAKES IN CAPTIVITY. 207 



on the qui vive, without being able to obtain particular reptiles, 

 and that the maxim is not without force of application however 

 one may be situated. Even in this enlightened land it is 

 generally easier to go and catch an adder than to find an oppor- 

 tunity of purchasing one ready caught ; here, however, imported 

 produce is perhaps more abundant than home material. 



The names subjoined are those of snakes which the student 

 will be able to buy sometimes from dealers and menageries on 

 the Continent (rarely here, with the exception of one or two 

 species), more probably than other kinds; or which may be pro- 

 cured for him by friends in the several parts of the world 

 indicated, where the species mentioned are those to be met with 

 most frequently. As a possible assistance in the quest, I give 

 local or vernacular names when I know them, though, as was 

 said in the first chapter, they are of little value ; the authors 

 whose nomenclature is quoted will supply descriptions. The 

 collector may feel assured that he will at all times be able to 

 procure some that are contained within this category, and that 

 any one of them may come under his notice, if he prosecutes his 

 inquiries in the right directions, at any time. But, bearing in 

 mind the impediments that are detailed above, he will scarcely 

 hope ever to possess all of them ; still less would he exclude any 

 not herein set down which might present themselves to him. 



The owner of the large heated den, of which we first 

 discoursed, will naturally look out for reptiles befitting its 

 magnificent proportions— though small ones would by no means 

 complain of extra-spacious accommodation. The greater con- 

 strictors — the boa, python, and anaconda — suggest themselves ; 

 serpents which are fortunately not only tolerably easy to obtain, 

 but which do fairly well in confinement, and evince a higher 

 degree of intelligence, viewed in the light of pets, than most 

 reptiles, being in this respect amongst snakes what the dog, the 

 horse, and the elephant are amongst mammals. Of these the 

 cheapest, hardiest, and most readily procured is the West African 

 Python {Python sebce), sometimes called the African Boa. (For 

 the genus and species of these very common snakes I need give 

 no authority, since they will be found in all books at the head of 

 the synonymy.) Almost all dealers in animals keep this article 

 " in stock " ; Cross of Liverpool, Jamrach, and others supply 

 small specimens, four or five feet long, for twenty-five or thirty 



