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THE RING SNAKE, 
killed hundreds of them. “They were of a light- 
brown colour, and had a bright yellow band round 
> 
the neck.” With this detailed information of the 
state of affairs it was not a matter of great difficulty 
to understand how the plague of snakes had come 
about. 
There was no doubt that the obtruding reptiles 
must be ring snakes, their numbers proved that pretty 
conclusively, and the specimen sent me by Mr D. P. 
Fic. 6.—Youna Ring SNAKE FOUND IN THE DEBRIS OF THE WALL. 
Thomas, sanitary inspector, settled the point. It was 
a young ring snake 7} inches long, with all the char- 
acteristic markings. It is shown in the illustration 
above. Mr Thomas also sent me a bunch of the 
eggs, or rather the ege-membranes, as the young had 
been hatched out of them, except im one or two, 
which contained the skeleton of the embryo. 
The interesting problem which presented itself at 
first was, Where did all these snakes come from, and 
