REPTILE HOUSE 
in the comer leading into the water-viper’s case. The 
Abater-viper appeared to have lately fed and to be well 
filled out, and I had some misgivings that the lost cobra, 
in creeping through the mouse-hole, had been caught and 
swallowed by the water-viper. 
The fear, coupled with the anxiety of thinking that so 
dangerous a serpent as a cobra was at liberty, caused me 
to determine to settle the question at once. I had the 
water-viper killed, and, upon examination, found the nearly 
digested cobra, which Avas a great relief to me and all the 
others. 
183 
