SERPENTS. 415 
THE SNAKE (Natrix torquata, or Coluber natrix,) 
Is the largest of all English serpents, sometimes exceeding 
four feet in length. The colour of the body is variegated 
with yellow, green, white, and regular spots of brown and 
black. They seem to enjoy themselves when basking in 
the sun, at the foot of an old wall. This animal is per- 
fectly innoxious, although many reports have been circu- 
lated and believed to the contrary ; it feeds on frogs, 
worms, mice, and various kinds of insects, and passes 
the greater part of the winter in a state of torpidity. In 
the spring they re-appear, and at this season uniformly 
cast their skins. This is a process that they also seem to 
undergo in autumn. Mr. White says : " About the mid- 
dle of September we found in a field, near a hedge, the 
slough of a large snake, which seemed so have been newly 
cast. It appeared as if turned wrong side outward, and 
as if it had been drawn off backward, like a stocking or a 
woman's glove. Not only the whole skin, but even the 
scales from the eyes were peeled off, and appeared in the 
slough like a pair of spectacles. The reptile, at the time 
of changing his coat, had entangled himself intricately in 
the grass and weeds, in order that the friction of the 
stalks and blades might promote this curious shifting of 
his exuvia." 
