388 
NOTES ON SNAKES IN EAST AFRICA 
soldier ants biting it. The writer has taken quite a number 
of specimens of Glauconia conjuncta at Longido and Morogoro 
in the following situations : under a wood pile ; among roots 
of a tree that was being dug up ; in holes being excavated for 
a banda pole ; crossing paths, roads, &c. 
The last and possibly most primitive family of living snakes 
is the Typhlopidse or Blind Snakes, which are adapted to a 
subterranean existence like the Worm Snakes, but come above 
ground after showers of rain. The prevailing variety of the 
Spotted Blind Snake in German East Africa seems to be a 
mottled blue-grey with white tongue. At Garagua one was 
taken under a stone ; at Mbunyi in a tent trench ; at Handeni 
one came up through the soil during a shower and another was 
caught in the road ; at Morogoro in a salvage pit and another 
in the road. 
They are uninteresting objects to keep in captivity, as they 
immediately bore into the soil with their well-adapted head, 
obtaining a purchase with the spiny-armed tail. They feed 
on termites, and a large Blind Snake being placed in the same 
box as the unfortunate Worm Snake just referred to, throve 
well. 
Another somewhat uncommon snake is Schlegel’s Blind 
Snake (Typhlops Schlegelii), a dirty- white or flesh-coloured 
reptile, of which the writer obtained three specimens at Moro- 
goro. Eleven other species of Blind Snake are to be found 
in East Africa, but owing to their very local distribution are 
difficult to obtain. 
From the foregoing it will be seen that there is no easy 
criterion whereby one may readily distinguish between the 
poisonous and harmless species. The variations in colour are 
legion, and the shape of the head is no guide. Some perfectly 
harmless snakes flatten their head until they look very wicked, 
whilst such a dangerous creature as the Mamba has a head 
as shapely as those of any of the harmless colubrines to which 
it is nearly related. Only by constant examination and 
handling of dead specimens is one likely to be able to identify 
a live snake as it flashes past across one’s path. 
