192 BEASTS AND MEN 
They would not touch frogs, but when I put some young 
white mice into their cage they seized, killed and swallowed 
them in the same way as the adults do. Eventually I sold 
the whole family to the Jardin d’Acclimatisation in Paris, 
where, however, proper care was not taken of them and they 
soon died. They were then stuffed and mounted with their 
egg-shells; and are still on view for any one who likes to go 
and see them. 
I made another attempt at breeding snakes in the year 
1904, when I received indirectly from Singapore a very large 
Python reticulatus which in the course of its journey had laid 
no fewer than 103 eggs. Of these eighty-eight were hatched, 
and I purchased the entire family; but only thirty-three 
reached me alive, measuring about eighteen inches each. 
Some I gave away, others refused their food and died, until 
at last I had only sixteen individuals left. These I treated 
with the utmost possible care, feeding them on sparrows and 
mice. At first they seemed to do well, but eventually every 
one of them died from convulsions. I think the cause of their 
illness must have been an insufficient supply of fresh air; for 
among all living beings fresh air is one of the most essential 
conditions for the maintenance of good health. They all died 
within a few days of each other, and the catastrophe was the 
more regrettable in that up till that time they had thriven 
excellently, three already measuring over four feet, and one of 
these over five feet, in length. 
The intelligence of snakes has been in my opinion greatly 
exaggerated. It is true that the frequency with which snake- 
charmers are to be met would seem to indicate a certain de- 
gree of educability in the animals; but I should be very 
sceptical as to the possibility of snakes approaching in this 
respect any of the higher animals. I do not think that the 
snake-charmer can enter into the same friendly relation with 
his pupils that trainers can do among the apes, ungulates, and 
carnivores. Of course they have some capacity for learning 
tricks, but their main characteristics seem to be gluttony, lazi- 
