AUSTRALIAN SNAKES. 
31 
The Diamond Snake is common in the county of Cumberland, in 
the Blue Mountains, and in the Illawarra district; though a harmless 
creature, when it is irritated its bite is severe; and though strictly noc¬ 
turnal, individuals are sometimes met with during the day-time, either 
basking in the sun and digesting their food, or in search of a place 
of shelter when they have been disturbed. Like the other members of 
the family JPythonidce, they prey upon birds and the smaller mammals; 
young individuals feed upon insects, frogs, or birds’ eggs ; in January 
or December the female deposits thirty eggs or more, which she incubates. 
Diamond Snakes are found in almost every kind of country that 
offers them sufficient shelter. They prefer open stony ridges, studded with 
low trees, and well supplied with water; hut frequent the edges of swamps 
and lagoons, where they find a good supply of Water Bats (Hi/dromys), 
besides young ducks, and other water-fowl; they also often visit the hen¬ 
roosts of the farmer, or surprise the smaller mammals upon the branches 
of trees. 
The largest specimen captured near Sydney, correctly measured, 
without being stretched, was 10 feet 3 inches long; individuals of 11 feet 
or more in length occur no doubt, hut they are very rare indeed, and have 
never been preserved in collections. 
In a state of nature they never touch any food except living animals. 
Once, however, a Diamond Snake, which was kept in a cage, swallowed a 
rat which had been killed by a Brown-handed snake (Uoplocephcdus curtus). 
The species under review are greatly infested by various kinds of 
intestinal worms, including a tape-worm, clusters of which have frequently 
been taken from their stomachs. 
Carpet Snake. Morelia variegata. 
(Plate II.) 
Morelia variegata, Gray, Cat. of Spec, of Snakes in Col. B. M., p. 86. 
Whether the Carpet Snake is only a variety of the former species, 
or whether it deserves to he classed as a separate kind, has not been 
satisfactorily proved; and as both snakes are totally distinct in color, and 
very restricted in their habitat, it will perhaps he better to speak of them 
here as two species. 
The general structure of the scales of the head and body is precisely 
alike in both reptiles, but they vary much in coloration. 
