NOTES AND QUERIES. 437 
confirm the statement. During the daytime my snake lies quiet, appa- 
rently fast asleep. . Whether or no he is so I cannot say, but I notice that 
the elliptic pupil of the eye is generally at this time almost invisible. On 
touching him, however, the black streak widens until the pupil is large and 
round, and this I presume means that he is waking up and opening his 
eyes. However, during the day he seldom moves or takes any notice of 
what is passing around him; at night he is quite a different animal. He 
generally wakes up about seven or eight o’clock in the evening, when I see 
his small head and pearly-white throat peering through the glass front of 
his case. His movements are restless, quick, and active, and he is rarely 
still for long together, moving at a fairly rapid pace round the case, and up 
and down a branch which is placed therein for the purpose of exercise. 
The pupil at this time is full and round, covering nearly all the eye. Hi8s 
great delight is to be allowed to leave the case and climb about my 
shoulders, or to have the free run of the room, where he goes on exploring 
expeditions over chairs, tables, &c., inquisitively examining everything by 
the aid of his constantly vibrating tongue. Dull-coloured articles which do 
not shine have not nearly the same attraction for him as those which are 
brightly polished. The Rev. G. C. Bateman, in his useful book, ‘ The 
Vivarium,’ expresses the opinion that snakes possess little or no sense of 
hearing, and my observation certainly confirms this; for, while the Python 
is exceedingly quick at detecting vibration, he takes not the slightest 
notice of any sound which is unaccompanied by it, even at times when he 
is most “ wide-awake.” 
The rate of growth is much more rapid than I should have expected. 
When I obtained him on Sept. 7th, 1897, he then measured 6 ft. 6 in. in 
length ; on Nov. 29th he had increased to 6 ft. 10 in., and to-day (Sept. 2nd, 
1898) he measures 8 ft. 1 in., an increase of nineteen inches for the twelve 
months. His girth has also considerably increased. During the year he 
has shed his skin four times. The first was only a few days after I got 
him, when I noticed him rubbing his head upon the felt at the bottom of 
the case in order to loosen the skin round his jaws. I have unfortunately 
lost my notes of the details of the operation, but I remember the time 
occupied from beginning to end of the proceedings was only twenty minutes, 
the skin being cast in one piece. Frequently I place in the case a zinc 
bath filled with water, and in this the Python spends a good deal of time, 
lying totally immersed, but with the nostrils just above the surface of the 
water. If disturbed he will withdraw even this, and my friend Mr. F. 
Grant and myself timed him on one occasion for 5% minutes before he 
raised his head to take breath. ‘To this bath he always repairs before 
casting his skin, and usually passes a considerable time therein on such 
occasions. On Nov. 20th, noticing that the reptile was listless and 
