203 



Communications for insertion should reach 

 us 07ie week hi advance. 



Orders or other communications must be 

 sunt to John E. Robson, Bellerby Terraee, j 

 West Hartlepool ; or to S. L. Mosley, Prim- j 

 rose Hill, Huddersfield. Orders may also be I 

 sent to the printers or publishers. 



The Young Naturalist may also be had as J 

 under : — 



Bp. Auckland— J. P. Soutter, Clyde Ter. 



Bradford — T.AV. Carter, 168, Priestman 

 Street, Carlisle Road, Manningham. 



Birmingham — M. Browne, Broad St. 



Coventry — W. Thompson, 4, Court, 4, 

 House, Gosford Street. 



Dewsbury — Carter Lodge, Thornhill. 



Hartlepool— J. J. Dixon, Hart Street 



Huddersfield— Parkin, Cross Church 

 Street ; Ernest Denton, Mold green ; Simeon 

 Kaye, Paddock: James Varley, Almond bury 

 Bank. 



Leeds— W. Denison Roebuck, Sunny Bank. 



Liverpool — B. Cook, junr. & Co., 21, 1 

 Renshaw Street. 



London — E. G. Meek, 56, Brompton Road ; 

 Costle and Lamb, 133, Salisbury Sq, Fleet St. I 

 Newcastle-on-Tyne and Gateshead — Geo. 



F. Miller, 23, Cromwell Terrace, Rensliaw, 



Gateshead. 



Plymouth — G. C. Bignall, Clarence Place, 

 Btonehouse. 



Wakefield— C. S. Purchas, 81, Kirkgate. i 

 Wellingborough — C* Drage, High St. 

 West Hartleool — Hoggett, Church St. 



- i 



NOTES, CAPTURES, &c. 



Hvbernia Rupicapraria is staying with ' 

 us long enough this spring ; I took several 

 specimens last night (April yth) that appar- 

 ently had not been long out of the chrysalis. 

 — H. Thompson, Coventry. 



THE RINGED OR GRASS 

 SNAKE. 



(TROPIDONOTUS MATRIX. J 

 By Thos. T. Doubleday, Gateshead-on-Tyne. 



For the last two or three years I have kept 

 several specimens of the Common Ringed, or 

 Grass Snake, and have found them very | 

 interesting pets. 



I feed them upon frogs and newts, the 

 former, however, being their favourite food. 



The snakes always prefer the small, or com- 

 mon smooth newt, to the large species, or 

 common water-newt ; in fact, during all the 

 time I have kept snakes I never saw them eat 

 one of the large species. 



I have seen a snake seize a large newt, and 

 after retaining it in its month for a few 

 moments, put it out in disgust. I have often 

 thought that this aversion might arise from 

 the fact, that, from the many tubercles with 

 which the large species are covered, there 

 exudes, when the newt is seized, a frothy 

 white substance which has a very pungent 

 odour. 



In this respect they resemble the toad, with 

 the exception, that the liquid exuded by it, is, 

 I believe, without smell. Even from the 

 small species of newt I have observed a slight 

 odour arise, but nothing to be compared with 

 that of the large newts. 



The newts are sometimes seized by the 

 head, sometimes by the tail or middle, but in 

 all cases the snake manages to get the poor 

 creatures gorged. 



Frogs, if large, are generally taken by one 

 of the hind legs, and gradually swallowed 

 despite their struggles : if small, they are 

 caught up anywhere, and I have heard them 

 give their cry of distress, even when in the 

 body of the snake. 



Snakes, like other reptiles, change their 

 skins, generally from three to four times a 

 year. This, however, depends upon their 

 stats of health : a healthy snake wearing out 

 a coat in a very short time. Previous to the 

 change, the covering of the eyes becomes of a 

 whitish colour and almost opaque, rendering 

 the snake nearly blind. The skin looks dull, 

 and the snake becomes inactive and eats little. 



A day or two previous to the change, I have 

 observed the eyes almost recover their usual 

 clearness, and the skin also looks brighter. 

 Atlastthetimecomes when the old skin is quite 

 loose and ready to be cast off. It then begins 

 to break at the neck, and the snake by creeping 

 through the moss and cork, with which the 

 box in which I keep them is fitted up, gradually 



