THE EINGED SNAKE. 51 



are easily tamed, and can be kej)t in houses, where they soon 

 accustom themselves to those who have the care of them . 

 At a sign from their keeper, they will twist themselves round 

 his fingers, arms, and neck, insinuate their heads between his 

 lips to drink his saliva, and to hide and warm themselves they 

 creep under his clothes. In their wild state, the adult Ringed 

 Snake lives in the fields ; and, when full-grown, shows great 

 irritation when attacked. When exasperated, they move their 

 tongues, erect themselves with great vivacity, and even bite the 

 hand which tries to seize them ; but their bite is quite harmless. 



[This Ringed Snake is the Natrix torquatus of Ray, well known 

 to naturalists. The female is larger than the male. Its food con- 

 sists a good deal of frogs, which are generally caught by the leg, 

 and swallowed alive, in spite of resistance and very distressing cries. 



When the skin has just been cast, the Ringed Snake presents 

 beautiful markings, especially when seeii swimming across some 

 clear running stream, its head and neck raised above the limpid 

 water, and the sun shining on its bright enamelled skin. It has 

 been supposed, not unnaturally, that the Snake casts its skin at 

 fixed intervals ; this, Mr. Bell considers to be a mistake. He has 

 always found that it depended on the temperature of the atmo- 

 sphere and on their state of health and feeding. " I have known 

 the skin thrown offj" he adds, " four or five times during the year. 

 It is always thrown off by reversing it, so that the transparent 

 covering of the eyes and that of the scales are always found in the 

 exuviae. Previous to this curious phenomenon, the whole cuticle 

 becomes somewhat opaque, the eyes dim, and the animal is evi- 

 dently blind. It also becomes more or less inactive, until at length, 

 when the skin is ready for removal and the new skin perfectly 

 hard underneath, the animal bursts it at the neck, and creeping 

 through some dense herbage or low brushwood, leaves it detached, 

 and comes forth in brighter and clearer colours than before." 



The Ringed Snake begins to hybernate, in some warm hedge 

 or under the root of some tree, or other sheltered situation, about 

 the end of autumn ; and there they coil themselves up, sometimes in 

 numbers, till the spring again calls them forth. Many instances 

 are told of this Snake being tamed. Mr. Bell had one which knew 

 him from all other persons ; it would come to him when let out of 



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