THE YELLOW SNAKE. 103 



In his very interesting work on' the natural history of Jamai- 

 ca, Mr. Gosse gives a curious account of a burrow made by the 

 Yellow Snake {GMlabothrus inornatus). This snake is very 

 plentiful in Jamaica, and is perfectly harmless to man, being des- 

 titute of poison-fangs, and not reaching a size which would render 

 it formidable to human beings; Its average length, when full- 

 grown, is eight fept. So far, indeed, from being obnoxious to 

 man, it may rank among his best friends, as being a determined 

 . foe to rats, feeding largely upon l^em, and even entering houses 

 in search of its prey. Like the weasel, indeed, of our own coun- 

 try, which feeds mostly on mice and other destructive animals, 

 but occasionally makes a raid upon the fowl-house, the Yellow 

 Snake enters the farm-yard, and, instead of eating rats as it ought 

 to do, proceeds to the hen-roosts, and robs them. No less than 

 seven eggs have been found inside a single Yellow Snake, and 

 not a single egg was broken. 



There is now (1863) a good specimen in the Eeptile-room of 

 the Zoological Gardens of London. 



One of these snakes was seen to crawl out of a hole in the side 

 of a yam-hill — i. e. a bank of mould prepared for the purpose of 

 growing yams — and when the earth was carefully removed, a 

 large chamber was discovered in the middle of the hill, nicely 

 lined with strips of half-dried plantain leaves, technically called 

 "trash," and containing six eggs, all fastened together. Just 

 outside the hole was a heap of loose mould, which had evidently 

 been thrown out when the excavation was made. 



The Yellow Snake generally makes its home in the deep spaces 

 between the spurs of the fig or the buttresses of the cotton-tree, 

 and always lines it with "trash;" but that the creature should be » 

 able to excavate a burrow, and throw out the earth, seems almost 

 incredible. How did the snake remove the earth? As the rep- 

 tile -was not seen in the act of excavating, this question could not 

 be precisely answered. Mr. Hill, however, to whom the subject 

 was referred, gave as his opinion that the snake loosened the 

 earth with its snout, and then worked' the loose soil out of the 

 hollow by successive contractions of the segments of the abdomen, 

 which would thus " ddiver" the soil after the manner of the Ar- 

 chimedean screw. 



The eggs which were found in the chamber were removed, and 

 from one of them, which was opened, was taken a young snake, 

 about seven inches in length. 



