128 
HABITS OF THE RINGED SNAKE. 
The Ringed Snake is fond of water, and is a good swimmer, sometimes diving with great 
ease and remaining below the surface for a considerable length of time, and sometimes swim- 
ming boldly for a distance that seems very great for a terrestrial creature to undertake. This 
reptile will even take to the sea. 
I have often seen tame Snakes taken to an old deserted stone-quarry for a bath in the clear 
water which had collected there. Generally the Snake would swim quietly from one side to 
another, and might then be recaptured, but on sundry occasions it preferred diving to the very 
bottom, and there lay among the stones, heedless of all the pelting to which it was subjected, 
and impassive as if perfectly acquainted with the harmless nature of stones projected into 
water. Nothing would induce the Snake to move but a push with a stick, and as the water 
was rather deep and the quarry wide, a stick of sufficient length was not readily found. The 
motions of the Snake while in the water are peculiarly graceful, and the rapid progress is 
achieved by a beautifully serpentine movement of the body and tail. 
This Snake is susceptible of kindness, and if properly treated, soon learns to know its 
owner, and to suffer him to handle it without displaying any mark of irritation. Though 
harmless and incapable of doing any hurt by its bite, the Snake .is not without other 
RINGED SNAKE, OR GRASS SNAKE.— Tropidonotus ncitrix. 
means of defence, its surest weapon being a most abominable and penetrating odor, which 
it is capable of discharging when irritated, and which, like that of the skunk, adheres so 
closely to the skin or the clothes, that it can hardly be removed even by repeated washings. 
Moreover, it is of so penetrating a nature that it cannot be hidden under artificial essences, 
being obtrusively perceptible through the most powerful perfumes, and rather increasing than 
diminishing in offensiveness by the mixture. The reptile will, however, soon learn to distin- 
guish those who behave kindly to it, and will suffer itself to be handled without ejecting this 
horrible odor. 
The young of the Ringed Snake are hatched from eggs, which are laid in strings in some 
warm spot and left to be hatched by the heat of the weather or other natural means. Dung- 
hills are favorite localities for these eggs, as the heat evolved from the decaying vegetable 
matter is most useful in aiding their development, and it often happens that a female Snake 
obtains access into a hothouse and there deposits her eggs. Some persons say that the 
mother is sometimes known to remain near the eggs, and to coil herself round them as has 
already been related of the boa. The eggs are soft, as if made of parchment, and whitish. 
