884 
NOTES ON SNAKES IN EAST AFRICA 
thisut may be argued that some natural enemy prevents their 
reaching maturity. In captivity they feed well on mice, which 
they are able to swallow though greater in diameter than their 
own bodies. The outline of the mouse can clearly be traced 
by the distended skin in the region of the stomach. The 
pursuit of their favourite food leads them to frequent the abodes 
of man, where they meet with little mercy though so perfectly 
harmless. One apparently resided under the writer’s bed for 
a long time where it was found in a box too gorged to offer 
resistance. Two cast skins were found under the floor, which 
looked as if the snake had frequented the spot for several 
months. They will bite readily enough, and their many pin- 
like teeth draw blood. On one occasion some time after hand- 
ling one of these house snakes, whilst drying his hands on a 
towel, the writer found a tooth embedded in his hand. 
A young specimen of the Olive Grass Snake ( Tropidonotus 
olivaceus), the East African representative of the English Grass 
Snake, was found down by the stream at Makindo when taking 
horses to water ; it was unable to get away and had probably 
been trodden upon. Its eviscerated body when placed in a 
tin of water overnight was carried off by a rat, whose foot- 
prints were clearly traceable in the dust. The only other 
fresh specimens seen were taken in the Yala river district. 
The next family under consideration is the Boidae, and here 
let me say that no Boa- constrictors are found in Africa; the true 
Boa- constrictor is found nowhere outside South America. 
A small stumpy Sand Boa ( Eryx thebaicus), which is more likely 
to be mistaken for a viper, is found in East Africa, and 
specimens were collected at Mbunyi and Kahe. 
The colouration is a mixture of pink and chocolate. These 
snakes feed on mice and young birds, which they constrict 
before swallowing. 
The large Python (Python sebae), which ranges over the 
whole of Tropical and South Africa, where it is variously called 
Rock Snake and West African Python, reaches a considerable 
size. A headless skin 26 feet long was brought in by natives 
from Ngeri-Ngeri. The largest of five specimens brought 
in by Mushairi was 12 feet in length, weighed 80 lbs., and has 
been in the writer’s possession since September 12, when it was 
