Gerald Rowley Leighton

“ It is said, in the first place, that the slough is cast once every year; secondly, that the reptile often makes a meal of the cast-off slough; and, thirdly, that the slough is cast entire (i.e. in one piece) when the reptile is in good health, but in several pieces if the animal is out of condition. ”

“ For the last six or seven years there have been scores of Snakes to be seen about these houses, even climbing up the walls, and on to the old-fashioned roofs which they have. For the last two or three years the reptiles seem to have become even more numerous. ”

“ Of these objections, the second is by far the most pressing to my mind, for if it could be shown that the gullet of the Adder is not capacious enough to hold the average number of young, then indeed one could not have much belief in the occurrence. It is this point that I wish to deal with at present. One must settle—
1st. What is the average number of young at a birth? ”

“ A Plague of Snakes.—The residents of a house at Cefncaeau, near Llanelly, are suffering from a plague of Snakes. The reptiles are of all sizes and colours, and they crawl over the floors, infest the cupboards, curl themselves together on the furniture, and even luxuriate in the bedrooms. No fewer than twenty-two Snakes were slaughtered in one day. ”

“ On Nov. 6th, 1898, Python entered water. Remained continuously till 24th, when it cast slough during the night.
"5. On Feb. 16th, 1899, Python appeared soon likely to slough, so I introduced its bath. It entered at once, but only remained a few hours, and kept on entering and leaving the bath until Feb. 25th, when sloughing commenced. As the slough was dry it did not readily peel off, and the process was only partially completed. The Python then entered the water, and remained till Feb. 28th, when it emerged and cast the rest of the slough. ”

“ The longest-living author of this work died in 1953, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 70 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works. ”