WILD ANIMALS IN CAPTIVITY 
RUSSELL’S VIPER. 
The first Russell’s viper I ever saw alive was presented to 
the Zoological Society by an officer on board a steamshij) 
from Ceylon. 
This gentleman told me that the snake had been given 
to him as perfectly tame and harmless, and that, from 
time to time, he had removed it from its cage and allowed 
it to crawl about upon the mess-table for the amusement 
of those on board. It happened, however, that one day 
a chicken escaped from the coop on deck and flew on to 
the cabin-table ; it was instantly struck at by this, said 
to be, harmless snake. The chicken fell paralyzed and 
died in a few minutes, to the great consternation of all 
who witnessed the occurrence. The owner, with great 
caution, managed to secure his former pet in its cage, and 
was very thankful that, by this accidental discovery, no 
serious mishap had occurred. On arriving in London he 
presented it to the Society, and it was considered, by 
those who had paid attention to the subject, to be one of 
the most deadly of snakes. 
COBRA AT LARGE. 
Soon after the cobra had been eaten by the water- 
viper, as told in a previous page, an Egyptian cobra, 
measuring 5 ft. 6 in., escaped in a similar manner, i. e. 
by a hole gnawed through the bottom of the case by 
a common house mouse, but this time the cobra got 
loose in the building, which fact was not discovered 
by the keeper until the evening. This was a more 
serious matter than the previous one, because the reptile 
was at large, and I was at my wits’ end to know what 
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