Reptiles. 



7941 



to judge. On taking a petrel out of its nest it would not, on being set down, attempt 

 to fly at first, but would endeavour to dig its way down into some of the broken holes. 

 Most of the nests seemed to be old ones newly fitted up, and I found several such 

 where the bird had brought quite a sprinkling of fresh dirt to the surface. They seem 

 to form their galleries not so much by carrying out the surplus dirt, however, as by 

 pressing themselves through the soft turfy soil. A great many ants had made their 

 nests among the galleries, but did not seem to incommode the birds ; perhaps, indeed, 

 they serve them for food at times." — S. P. Saville ; Dover House, Cambridge, January 

 14, 1862. 



An Unexpected Arrival. — In one of the compartments of the replile-house, in the 

 Zoological Gardens, there has lived for many years a fine specimen of the West African 

 rock-snake {Python Seba). It is now at least nineteen feet long, and about twenty 

 inches in circumference at its thickest part. Its companion, a snake of the same spe- 

 cies, but of much smaller dimensions, has been associated with it for, I believe, the last 

 two or three years, and the two reptiles have lived together in the utmost amity. On 

 the morning of the 12th inst. it was discovered that the large snake had, during the 

 previous night, deposited about a hundred eggs, of the size of those of a goose, with a 

 soft leathery envelope, and, for the most part, of a dirty yellowish colour, two or three, 

 however, being of a decided brown. When first observed the eggs were piled up in a 

 heap, but the snake soon reduced them all to the same level, and, having arranged 

 them in a suitable manner, coiled herself up on them, and completely covered them 

 with the thick folds of her body. During the last week the snake has once or twice 

 come off her eggs, and two days ago she was coiled round them, and the eggs were 

 slightly heaped together. The temperature of the compartment is about 70°, and under 

 the blanket which covers the python and her egtj;s it is probably 20° higher. This 

 snake has always been a spiteful one, and under her present circumstances she is more 

 than ever disposed to resent any interference, so that the precise number of the eggs, 

 and other particulars relating to the interesting event, have not yet been ascertained. 

 The fact of the python incubating her eggs was, I believe, first noticed at these Zool- 

 ogical Gardens many years ago, but was then generally discredited. It has since been 

 observed at Paris, where some young snakes were produced, and the present behaviour 

 of the python in the Regent's Park confirms the belief that incubation is the rule with 

 this division of the family Boidae. This snake has not fed for the last twenty-one weeks. 

 — E. W. H. Holdsworth, in the ' Field ' Newspaper. 



The Great Pythoness at the Zoological Gardens. * 



Among advertisements to seekers of amusement, one from the Zoo- 

 logical Society has, probably, been observed by our readers. It 

 announces that at the Society's Gardens " the large python may be 

 now seen incubating her eggs." We confess that this advertisement 

 somewhat surprised us ; for, having recently read in the Treatise on 



* From the 1 Athenaeum ' of February 8, 1862. 



