TREATMENT OF SNAKES IN CAPTIVITY. 453 



the Lizard as it waddles round its cage behind a pane of glass, 

 is better qualified to write about those details which lie beyond 

 the pale of its anatomy. 



For the subject itself I offer no apology, since no literature 

 bearing upon it exists at present. That I have not waited for 

 abler pens than mine to introduce it, I plead in self-excuse that I 

 am acting in compliance with a number of letters — some from 

 this country, some from the Continent, and some from America 

 — which I have received during the last twelve months, 

 requesting me to publish the results of an experience in snake- 

 keeping which has extended over a good many years. And it 

 has been pleasant to detect a genuine spirit of inquiry in the 

 tone of most of these letters, an indication that the serpents are 

 kerjt and watched as something more than playthings — not at 

 all inconsistent with their being regarded as pets ; the very 

 difficulties complained of evince a degree of close observation 

 under more or less unfavourable conditions on the part of the 

 writers, and show that they have already gleaned much that no 

 book can teach them. The references made to the reptiles, too, 

 suggest that the standard works have been diligently read. 

 Everybody in England, for instance, mentions the Coronella 

 Icevis with confidence — a snake which is commonly (and ex- 

 cusably) mistaken for the adder, and which was not recognised 

 as belonging to the British fauna until a comparatively recent 

 period. The frequent inquiries about these matters which 

 appear in the correspondence columns of all sorts of journals 

 and magazines have also weighed with me as an inducement to 

 bring the topic forward. 



I purpose to deal with practical points only, and to keep 

 strictly within such limits as are defined by the heading — the 

 care and management of live snakes. The object af these 

 papers is not to teach Ophiology, but to point out the simplest 

 and most direct methods by which the student may avail himself 

 of that royal road to knowledge, the book of Nature. I offer him 

 the epitomized outcome of many successes and more failures, 

 most of which have been of necessity the result of mere experi- 

 ment, that he may be spared the delay and vexation of similar 

 experiment, and that he may commence at the stand-point which 

 I have reached at this time of writing. I set down only the 

 plain, dry details of my experience ; but should that experience 



