
DO SNAKES SWALLOW THEIR YOUNG? 141 
“Mr. Henry Doubleday, of Epping, supplies the following information : 
‘A person whose name is English, a good observer, and one, as it were 
trod on her.’ In both these instances,” Mr. Newman adds, “the narra- 
tors are of that class who do know what to observe, and how to observe 
it; and the facts, whatever explanation they may admit, are ne to be 
dismissed as the result of imagination or mistaken observation 
We must confess that our own incredulity has been so kipini of late 
by these and similar instances, that we are by no means disposed to deny, 
because we cannot fully comprehend, the mystery of the process. It is - 
itted by some physiologists, if not by all, that there ee no sound 
phy Bay oe reason against such an occurrence; and, until we are con- 
vinced by better arguments than have hitherto been ri we dre 
und to ec that in “our inmost hearts” there lurks a belief that the 
maternal viper has a knack of swallowing its young. Whether our scien- 
tific friends consider us renegade from the true faith or not, we will at 
least be true to ourselves. 
With this feeling of Mr. Cooke’s we fully sympathize, and 
we believe the whole matter can be put at rest by any per- 
son, who, on observing a snake in the act of swallowing its 
young, will think to capture and place her in a box by her- 
self and see if the young again issue from the mouth. 
Should any of our readers ever obtain this much desired 
proof, we trust they will at once communicate it to the 
Narurauisr, and, if possible, send the whole family to the 
Academy, that the mother may be induced, if possible, to 
gratify us with an exhibition of her care for her offspring. 
here is one other matter of interest to be decided, and 
that is, taking it for granted that snakes do swallow their 
young, is it a “habit common to all snakes, or only to certain 
Species? In this country this habit has been, we believe, 
only attributed to the several species of Rattlesnakes ( Cro- 
talus), and to the Water-adder ( Tropidonotus sipedon), 
while in m Europe it is generally attributed to the Vipers 
(Pelias). The interest in this question is farther increased 
O ONRET PE 

* The Zodlogist, p 

