386 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XVII. 



Family — Mustelidse. — Blanford* includes snakes in the dietary of 

 the beech martin (Mudela foince), and Miss Hopleyt includes the 

 weasel and the badger in her list of serpentivores. 



Order — Insectivoree. — There are even instances of these quiet little 

 animals preying on snakes, for Buckland tells us that he demonstrated 

 by direct experiment that his pet hedgehog would eat the grass-snake 

 of Britain, and Miss Hopleyt also mentions the hedgehog in her list 

 of animals that devour snakes. 



Order — Rodentia. — It seems difficult to believe that rats, and even 

 mice, occasionally attack and kill snakes, but such is undoubtedly the 

 fact. Miss Hopleyt mentions the rat as one of those that will kill 

 snakes, and I have on very good authority the following remarkable 

 testimony of murine ferocity directed against these reptiles. Assistant 

 Surgeon Robertson narrated to me how he once put a rat into one of 

 his snake cages as food for a large ratsnake (Zamenis mucosus). The 

 rat. h^vever, when brought to bay defended itself with great courage 

 and determination, and fought with its would-be master to such purpose 

 that "the snake it was that died." Its tactics consisted in its fixing 

 itself on the back of the reptile's neck, and, having once obtained the 

 mastery, its ferocity and courage were stimulated to such a degree 

 that it fought and killed several other snakes caged with it. Con- 

 sidering it had earned its liberty, it was finally released. The Revd. 

 G. H. R. FiskJ tells an even more remarkable story. He had two 

 young ringhals (a poisonous S. African snake, Sepedon Jioemachates), 

 one 10 inches long, the other 9 in a box. A mouse was put in for 

 them to eat, but when the box was next opened, the rodent was found 

 to be eating one ringhal, and subsequent observation proved that the 

 mouse made an onslaught on the other by fastening itself by its claws 

 on to the snake's back, and then " pecking " it with its teeth. It was 

 dragged round and round the box by the snake in its endeavours to 

 free itself, but managed to elude the snake's repeated attempts to strike 

 it. 



Order — Ungulata. — Family — Cervidse. — Deer are reputed to kill 

 snakes by jumping upon them. Tennant§ mentions this on the 

 authority of the natives of Ceylon. 



* Fauna, Brit. India Mammalia, p. 161. 

 f " t-nakes," p. 57. 



% Proc. Zool. Soc, London, 1887, p. 340. 

 § Nat. Hist, of Ceylon, p. 295. 



