CHAPTER XVIII. 
VARIOUS INCIDENTS RECORDED OF BRITISH 
SERPENTS. 
Snakes and water.—‘ One sometimes hears people 
talk of an English water snake, but of course they 
really are referring to Tropidonotus natriz. The 
ring snake takes kindly to water, as the following 
incidents will show. They are led there primarily 
by a desire to find suitable food. So it is when 
Dante wants to describe the souls huddling together 
(in the ninth canto of the ‘Inferno’) he says :— 
‘Even as the frogs before the hostile snake 
Across the water scatter all abroad, 
Until each one is huddled on the earth.’ 
I fancy that this ‘biseia’ which Dante saw in the 
swamps round Ravenna was merely a ring snake 
looking for her dinner. Gilbert White mentions 
them actually lying under water in search of prey, 
but I have never seen this. 
“Beyond the desire of feeding, snakes take to the 
water for mere enjoyment. IT have often seen them 
