THE RING SNAKE. 2) 
It thus seems that the food of the ring snake is 
exactly what would be expected from an animal 
of its habits and anatomy. 
Reproduction.—In its reproduction the ring snake 
is an oviparous animal—that is, an ege - producing 
animal. The female does not bring forth young ring 
snakes, but lays a number of eggs. What that precise 
number is on the average I do not care to say too 
definitely, considering the very various estimates given 
by different writers. Thus the following figures are 
given :— 
M. C. Cooke gives the number as 16 to 20 eggs. 
H. FE. Forrest " " 20 or more eves. 
F. G. Aflalo " " 20 to 3 " 
Miss C. Hopley " " 15 to 25 " 
In his book of ‘ British Vertebrates’ Aflalo, however, 
states that there may be as many as four dozen eggs 
deposited at a time, and this is undoubtedly true. 
A correspondent of mine who was investigating the 
plague of snakes at Llanelly for me (see chap. iii.), 
found forty bundles of eggs, the average number 
in each bundle being thirty eggs. These were all 
found at the same time and place, so give a good 
opportunity of forming an estimate on the point. 
It will probably be very near the correct figure to 
estimate the average number of eggs deposited by 
the ring snake in a season, though not necessarily 
at one time, at from twenty to thirty. Their size 
