84 THK VICTORIAN 1?ATURALIST. 



are much darker in colour than those inhabiting high, rocky, or 

 sandy soil. Again, those in good condition are much brighter, with 

 more glossy scales. The nearer they are to shedding their skins, 

 the duller is their colour, and vice versa. 



There is a common belief that snakes swallow their young when 

 danger is near, but this I believe to be an error, having had snakes 

 in captivity which have given birth to young ones, and I have done 

 all I could to make the parent swallow them, but to no purpose. 

 The female seems to have not the slightest natural affection for her 

 offspring, she not being in the least degree more savage with her 

 young than at any other time. But the little ones appear to have 

 an idea of defending themselves even when a day old, for I have 

 handled them, and upon pinching them they would immediately 

 flatten out their heads and make an attempt to bite. 



From observations, I am inclined to think that none of our snakes 

 use their venom fangs to destroy their prey, but that they catch and 

 swallow it alive. They are also cannibals, for I have had them eat 

 each other when in captivity. But they cannot kill one another by 

 means of their venom. While capturing them, I have seen them 

 repeatedly bite themselves most viciously, but have never known one 

 to die from that cause ; because, I think, snakes are cold-blooded 

 and the venom has no fatal effect upon cold-blooded creatures, but 

 on the contrary, the hotter the blood the sooner death ensues. 



There is a grcnt difference of opinion as to the number of species 

 of snakes found in Tasmania. I am only sure of four, viz., 

 Hoplocephalus curtus (Tiger Snake), H. superbus (Copper-head), 

 H.flagellum (Whip Snake), and H. coronoides (White-Jipped snake)* 

 I have heard, on reliable authority, that there is a pale green snake 

 about the size of the whip snake, or a little larger, which is found 

 near the top of the mountains, but I am not in a position to say 

 whether it is a different species or not. I also think we have 

 Dieraenia superciliosa (Brown snake). Once I saw a snake killed 

 which, as far as I can rememberwas exactly like DiemeJiia superciliosa, 

 but it was some time since. 



I have never seen a snake six feet long. The longest T have seen 

 was a Tiger snake, five feet two inches when killed, but alive it 

 looked nearly seven feet. £ have also killed a female snake far 

 advanced in young, which upon being opened revealed fifty-two 

 little ones ; in another example I counted forty-eight. Snakes seem 

 to be very prolific, and the wonder is that they are not more plenti- 

 ful. This, no doubt, would be the case but for their enemies, 

 amongst which are the following, native cat, occasionally the domestic 

 cat and dog, Aquila audax (eagle), the various falcons and hawks, 

 Cracticus cinereus (butcher bird), Strepera fuliginosa (sooty crow- 

 shrike), and last, but by no means the least destructive, a kind of 

 fluke which seems to kill the snakes during their winter sleep, by 

 *Krefft only gives three, not having found the Whip Snake. — Ed. 



