[551] 



ON THE 



HABITS OF A SMALL SNAKE IN CAPTIVITY. 



BY E. J. CHxlPMAN, Ph.D, 



Professor of Mineralogy and Geology in Umversity Golkge-, Toronto. 



Our knowledge of the anatomy of Reptiles, so far at least as 

 regards living types, leaves probably little to be desired ; but a wide 

 field of research is still open to onr study of the ways of life and 

 mental characteristics, so to say, of these creatures. The following 

 notes, on the habits of a small snake in captivity, are offered as a slight 

 contribution to this study. Captive animals live necessarily to some 

 extent under abnormal conditions ; but this, although rendering our 

 observation of their habits more or less incomplete, is not without 

 certain advantages. It affords a test, for example, of the creature's 

 powers of adaptation to change ; and it serves to develop or reveal 

 traits of character to which instinct can in no respect lay claim. 



The subject of my memoir was captured, I believe, on the grassy 

 slope iji the immediate vicinity of our University Buildings, but it 

 came into my possession as follows : — On entering my lecture-room 

 one afternoon in October 1871, I thought that the attention of the 

 students was fixed in a somewhat remai-kable manner on the table 

 before me ; and this was soon explained by a rustling noise beneath some 

 drawings lying loosely there, followed by the emergence from among 

 these of a small snake — -the little creature turning rapidly about, 

 seemingly bewildered by its novel situation, and by the unrestrained 

 burst of applause with which its appearance was greeted. Seeing 

 that it belonged to a Avell-known harmless species, I covered it with 

 a chemical beaker-glass that happened to be at hand, and so kept it 

 imprisoned until the lecture was finished. I then put it into a small 

 bottle with the intention of liberating it in the Park on my way 

 home, but forgot to do so : in fact, it remained in its close quarters 

 in the pocket of my coat until the next morning. The idea then 

 occurred to me to keep it for a short time in order to observe its 

 Habits. I prepared a sufficiently roomy dwelling for it, by attaching 



