186 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



standing the experiences of the Zulu war, the recent insurrection 

 in Natal showed that the Kafirs still retain the belief that they 

 can be rendered bullet-proof by incantations. That the know- 

 ledge of the Ndhlondhlo is dying out amongst the present 

 generation of Kafirs can, therefore, only be ascribed to the 

 decrease or extinction of the species. 



I interviewed Mr. Boulenger, whom I believe to be the greatest 

 living authority on reptiles. He said that, as far as he was 

 aware, no Black Mamba had ever been known to approach such 

 a size as the snake recorded by Mr. Saunders, though he was 

 willing to admit that Black Mambas might attain sixteen feet. 

 The differentiation in colour did not trouble him, as snakes are 

 especially variable in that respect. The crest was a difficulty to 

 him, but he suggested that an old Black Mamba might give the 

 appearance of a crest by elevating the scales of the neck just at 

 the back of the head. With all deference to his vast knowledge, 

 it seems difficult to conceive of such functional differentiation, 

 unless there was at the same time some corresponding modifica- 

 tion of the controlling muscles. I believe, too, that no snake 

 has ever been known to raise its scales. The keepers of the 

 Snake House at the Zoological Gardens have never observed 

 anything of the kind. 



I felt that the disappearance of this species without any 

 assignable cause was a difficulty, but Mr. Boulenger assured me 

 that such cases of extinction are not unknown. He instanced 

 the Coluber longissimus (often called C. eesculapii), and the Emys 

 orbicularis (European Pond Tortoise), which once were spread 

 over Europe, but which now can only be found in certain isolated 

 localities, and even these small areas are steadily contracting. 



Kecently Dr. B. J. Colenso and Mr. F. E. Colenso (sons of 

 the great Bishop of Natal, whom I had the privilege of knowing), 

 very courteously gave me their experiences of what they think 

 may have been an Ndhlondhlo. Dr. Colenso, when a boy, saw a 

 large snake of a dark colour moving through long grass at least 

 three feet high. Its head was elevated considerably above the 

 grass, and he distinctly observed a crest resembling a feather, 

 which sloped back from the head, somewhat as the crest of a 

 Cockatoo does. I asked whether the crest appeared to spring 

 from the neck or from the head. He replied that it appeared to 



