. Natural history. Zoology. SCALED REPTILES—SNAKES. 425 that about ten years ago, while shooting in the jungle, I came upon a fine specimen of the snake in question over 12^ feet long, and, after an exciting chase, succeeded in capturing it alive and uninjured. I kept it in captivity for some months at Castle Rock in a large case, giving an occasional exercise in the spare room of my bungalow, and eventually took it to England for the reptile-house at the Zoological Gardens. At Brindisi I had to leave the snake to complete its journey by steamer to London, and upon opening its case on arrival
. Natural history. Zoology. SCALED REPTILES—SNAKES. 425 that about ten years ago, while shooting in the jungle, I came upon a fine specimen of the snake in question over 12^ feet long, and, after an exciting chase, succeeded in capturing it alive and uninjured. I kept it in captivity for some months at Castle Rock in a large case, giving an occasional exercise in the spare room of my bungalow, and eventually took it to England for the reptile-house at the Zoological Gardens. At Brindisi I had to leave the snake to complete its journey by steamer to London, and upon opening its case on arrival at the Zoo, it was, unfortunately, found to be dead. The body, how- ever, was in good preservation, and may be seen in a large case of alcohol in the reptile-room of the Natural History Museum at South ; Although there are no cobras in Australia, that country is the home of an equally deadly serpent known as the death-adder {Pseiidechis porphyriacd). In this snake the cylindrical body is extremely long and slender, the head is but imperfectly defined from the neck, and the scales are smooth. The species,which grows to as much as seven feet in length, is commonly kuQwn in its native country as the black snake. The last group of the present section of the Coluhrichii is that of the sea- snakes, which form the sub - family HydrophiiHce. They difler from the Elapiiim by the compressed and oar-like form of the tail, and also by the scales on the under surface being either nearly similar to those on the upper parts, or if enlarged into shields, by their being much smaller than in ordinary ter- restrial snakes. As their name implies, the sea-snakes are peculiar in the sub-order for their marine habits. Most of them, indeed, pass the whole of their time in the open sea, where they produce their young alive without the intervention of eggs ; but there are certain species which are partly terrestrial, and serve to connect the more typical representatives of the sub-fami
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Keywords: ., bookauthorly, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectzoology
