THE YELLOW SNAKE. 85 



engaged in digging, especially in breaking down banks, frequently 

 unearth a goodly assemblage of snakes, all coiled up in an 

 unsuspected cavity, which they must have entered through the 

 deserted burrow of a mouse or some other little animal. But 

 that a snake should be able to form its own burrow is a feature 

 so remarkable in herpetology, that a single accredited example 

 must not be passed without notice. 



In his very interesting work on the natural history of Jamaica, 

 Mr. Gosse gives a curious account of a burrow made by the 

 Yellow Snake {Childbothrus inomatus). This snake is very 

 plentiful in Jamaica, and is perfectly harmless to man, being 

 destitute of poison-fangs, and not reaching a size which would 

 render it formidable to human beings. Its average length, when 

 full-grown, is eight feet. So far, indeed, from being obnoxious 

 to man, it may rank among his best friends, as being a deter- 

 mined foe to rats, feeding largely upon them, and even entering 

 houses in search of its prey. Like the weasel, indeed, of our 

 own country, which feeds mostly on mice and other destructive 

 animals, but occasionally makes a raid upon the fowl-house, the 

 Yellow Snake enters the farmyard, and, instead of eating rats as 

 it ought to do, proceeds to tlie hen-roosts, and robs them. No 

 less than seven eggs have been found inside a single Yellow 

 Snake, and not a single egg was broken. 



There is now (1863) a good specimen in the Reptile-room of 

 the Zoological Gardens of London. 



One of these snakes was seen to crawl out of a hole in the 

 side of a yam-hUl — i. e. a bank of mould prepared for the purpose 

 of growing yams — and when the earth was carefully removed, a 

 large chamber was discovered in the middle of the hill, nicely 

 lined with strips of half-dried plantain leaves, technically called 

 " trash," and containing six eggs, all fastened together. Just 

 outside the hole was a heap of loose mould, which had evidently 

 been thrown out when the excavation was made. 



The Yellow Snake generally makes its home in the deep spaces 

 between the spurs of the fig or the buttresses of the cotton-tree, 

 and always lines it with "trash;" but that the creature should 

 be able to excavate a burrow, and throw out the earth, seems 

 almost incredible. How did the snake remove the earth ? As 

 the reptile was not seen in the act of excavating, this question 

 could not be precisely answered. Mr. Hill, however, to whom 



