450 



DUN SNAKE. 



the former, is capable of being tamed to a con- 

 siderable degree. The Count de Cepede relates, 

 from Mr. Bomare, an anecdote relative to a snake 

 which he supposes to have been of this species, 

 which had been so completely tamed by a lady, 

 as to come to her whenever she called it, follow 

 her in her walks, wreath itself round her arms, 

 and sleep in her bosom. One day, when this 

 lady went in a boat, to some distance up a large 

 river, she threw the snake into the water ; ima- 

 gining that it would readily recover the boat by 

 swimming; but the current proving unusually 

 strong, at that juncture, owing to the advance of 

 the tide, the poor animal, in spite of all its efforts 

 to reach the vessel, Avas unfortunately drowned. 

 On the approach of winter this species, like the 

 former, retires into subterraneous retreats, and 

 passes that season in a state of torpidity, from 

 which it recovers in the spring, when it casts its 

 skin, and appears in its highest beauty. 



I)UN SNAKE. 



Coluber Elaphis. C. gihus, supra lineis quatuor longitudinalibus 



nigris, abdomine albido. 

 Gilvous Snake, with four longitudinal black lines, and whitish 



abdomen. 



Elaphis. Aldrov. Serp.p. 266, 267. Jonst. Kept. t. V. 

 La Quatre-Raies. Cepede Serp. p. l63. pi. 7./. 1. 



Abdominal scuta 218, subcaudal scales 73. 



Though this species has been pretty well 

 figured in the work of Aldrovandus, and from 



