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THE ZOOLOGIST 



not coincide with the conclusions at which he may arrive in the 

 future, I would beg hini to remember that I have the advantage 

 of no observations but my own, and that I tender them simply 

 for what they are — as records rather than rules. The great 

 curse of science, the, grasping at finite inferences on insufficient 

 data, has been exemplified in none of its branches to a more 

 disastrous extent than in Ophiology. When we reflect on the 

 variable character of serpents and nearly everything connected 

 with them, it would seem as though especial care should be 

 taken in guarding against convictions based on anything but the 

 most abundant evidence, where questions concerning them are 

 involved ; yet scientific men have promulgated their hypotheses 

 as proven facts on the strength of isolated cases, and great 

 travellers who have been famous for their erudition in other 

 departments of Natural History have given the weight of their 

 names to vulgar rumours which have been reported to them 

 of things ophidian. Better, far better, to fall back upon the 

 veriest superstition and folk-lore than to find ourselves on 

 ground which is beset with pitfalls of error like these beneath 

 its seeming solidity. I would counsel the student to peruse any 

 and all books on the subject that come in his way, only warning 

 him not to be surprised if his practical investigations compel 

 him to unlearn many things afterwards which he may have 

 taken for granted. 



I shall avoid all technicalities, as far as possible ; but in 

 advising the amateur what snakes to keep in the different kinds 

 of cage, which are easiest to procure, and which are most readily 

 maintained under various conditions, I fear I must use the 

 scientific names for them, instead of their local vernaculars — 

 partly because I don't know the latter, in most instances, and 

 partly because it would be of very little assistance to him in 

 obtaining them if I did. All over the world we find such 

 titles as "death," "night," or "fire-adder;" "rat-snakes," 

 "chicken-snakes," "grass," "sand" and "water-snakes;" 

 "deaf," "blind," "green," "brown" and "black" snakes; 

 "ringed," "striped," "spotted," "tiger," "leopard," "milk," 

 " silver," " coral," " harlequin " and " carpet " snakes— some or 

 all of these. To attempt to reduce the popular nomenclature 

 of reptiles to anything like systematic order is to make con- 

 fusion worse confounded. Go to any country, and learn the 



