74 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



birds and mice offer a change of diet. It is 

 common not only in England and Scotland but 

 all over the Continent of Europe, except the 

 extreme north. 



It has been the fashion to give the ring-snake 

 but little credit for maternal affection. The 

 female deposits a string of some fifteen to 

 twenty eggs in a spot whe're decaying vegetation 

 produces sufficient warmth and moisture to hatch 

 them, and there she is said to leave them. But 

 the more frequent and intelligent observations 

 of late years show that this snake keeps a sort of 

 guard over her eggs and becomes angrily excited 

 when she thinks they are in danger. In confine- 

 ment she has been known to incubate them. 

 Among other evidences of the fact, Dr. Stradling 

 informed me that a very tame ring snake of his laid 

 some eggs and coiled herself upon them zealously 

 for some days. Tame and unaggressive as this 

 snake habitually was, she now viciously resented 

 being molested, and even tried to bite, which she 

 had never done before. Keeper Tyrrell, at the 

 Zoological Gardens, has hatched many broods 

 from eggs deposited there. He keeps them in 

 damp moss at a temperature of 75 . 



The very young snakes are the prettiest little 

 creatures imaginable, like black satin cords, but 

 very pliant and active, with large bright eyes and 

 distinct collar. To watch a lively tangle of them in 

 their quicksilver movements is most interesting. 



Coronella Icevis, the smooth snake, is far less 

 common than either the ring snake or the viper. 

 It has not been much known, except to science, till 

 within the last forty years. The first captured in 

 Great Britain was a young specimen at Dumfries, 

 named by Sowerby Coluber dumfriesiensis. A speci- 

 men was in the British Museum collection when 

 Dr. Gray published his " Catalogue of Snakes," 

 1849, and Bell referred to it in his " British 

 Reptiles." It had, however, been long known 

 on the Continent, particularly Southern Europe, 

 where it is far more common than with us. It 

 was described by Laurenti, who named it Coronella 

 austriaca, it being frequent in Austria. 



In September, 1862, a new interest was attached 

 to it through one being captured near Bourne- 

 mouth, and being exhibited in the window of the 

 office of "The Field" newspaper, and, after a 

 couple of weeks or so, giving birth to six or eight 

 little Coronellas, to the great delight of all concerned. 

 A good deal was made known about it at that time 

 through the columns of " The Field " and other 

 publications, and Lord Arthur Russell stated that 



this was the fifth Coronella captured near Bourne- 

 mouth. 



Because that brood was born alive it was some- 

 what too hastily concluded that Coronella was a 

 viviparous snake. Careful observation of snakes 

 in confinement has shown that some, usually 

 oviparous, have the power of retaining their eggs 

 when circumstances are not propitious for the 

 deposition of them. Several such cases are on 

 record, and they are proofs of a strong maternal 

 instinct in the despised reptile. Should the snake 

 mother be new to her surroundings and alarmed 

 or timid, or has not a safe, snug corner for some 

 sort of nest, she retains her eggs until the living 

 young are produced. There can be but little 

 doubt that this was the case with Mr. Frank 

 Buckland's Coronella, when on public exhibition. 

 At the Zoological Gardens several broods of 

 Coronellas have been hatched from eggs in the 

 usual way. It was well known already to the 

 German and Austrian herpetologists, also, that 

 Coronella was sometimes oviparous and sometimes 

 viviparous, and they have given much attention 

 to the subject. Coronella extends northwards to 

 Scandinavia. In Sweden it is the Slat snok, in 

 Germany the Kreuz natter, or Cross snake, from a 

 mark on its head, and also the Kranz natter, 

 or Crown snake, from the position of the head 

 plates ; from which it is also the Coronella of 

 science. Its specific Icevis refers to the extremely 

 polished smoothness of its scales, sufficiently re- 

 markable to have the characteristic distinguished, 

 and which renders it all the more easily known 

 from both the other British snakes with their 

 keeled scales. Boulenger, however, retains the 

 specific austriaca, to which he considers it better 

 entitled, and as having been always known in 

 Germany under this name. 



The family Coronellidce to which it belongs is well 

 represented in many parts of the world. C. Icevis is 

 usually found on dry gravelly or sandy commons 

 where lizards are frequent, these being its favourite 

 food. The Dorsetshire and Hampshire heaths 

 most frequently reward the English collector. 

 Having been caught as far north as Dumfries, 

 we may reasonably suppose that it may exist 

 in intermediate spots. It has so often been 

 mistaken for the viper that to kill it at once is the 

 bucolic impulse. In size — about two feet and a 

 half — and in colour it certainly does somewhat 

 resemble the viper, but, as has been shown, the 

 two are otherwise quite dissimilar, From its rusty 

 brown colour it has been named C. ferrugineous in 



