THE SNAKE AND ITS NATURAL FOES. 395 



view, and to history. This episode does not stand alone, for Symonds* 

 speaks of a bull-frog he once found with a dead snake, Psammophis 

 crucifer, (South African) 18^ inches long in its mouth and remarks 

 that the natural food of this snake is frogs ! 



Phyla Arthropoda. 



Order — Arachnida. — Coming still further down the animal scale 

 we arrive at the arthropods, and I have two instances of centipedes 

 attacking snakes, both already recorded in this Journal.! In Mr. 

 Okeden's case an excellent photograph shows the centipede (Scolo- 

 pendra) in the act of gnawing at the caudal extremity of the snake, 

 which appears to be twice the length of its devourer. In Mr. Cum- 

 ming's case the centipede boxed with a Zamenis ventrimaculatus, 

 attacked it under provocation from its owner, and bit so malignantly 

 that the reptile shortly died. 



Class Pisces. 



Order — Selachoidei. — Cantor J remarks that from M. Peron's observ- 

 ations, sharks appear to be the natural enemies of the marine serpents. 



Division Insecta. 



Order — Hymenoptera. — One reads in Natural History books of the 

 famous driver ants of South America which manoeuvre through jungles 

 in military fashion, and attack and destroy all animal life that 

 they encounter, even to creatures of the magnitude of the largest 

 boas. Its humble eastern allies though not employing such metho- 

 dical tactics, nor acting on so extensive a scale, do occasionally attack 

 and overpower living animals including snakes. A very pretty little 

 green keelback (Macropisthodon plumbicolor) I had in captivity was 

 attacked, and reduced to a skeleton one night by ants. Ferguson § 

 records a similar experience, for which ants (Solenojysis geminata) 

 were responsible, their victim, a Helicops schistosus, being literally 

 skeletonised. 



When I began these remarks I had no idea the list of natural foes 

 to the snake would present so formidable an array, and provide mate- 

 rial for so voluminous a paper, but I feel sure that this list, long as it 

 is, could be very considerably supplemented by many of our readers. 



• Proc. Zool. Soc, London, 1387, p. 487. 

 t Vol. XV., pp. 185 and 365. 

 j Trans. Zool. See., London, ] 840, p. 308. 

 § Bomb, Nat. Hist. Jour., Vol. X, p. i>. 

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