The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1888-10-24
THE zoos REPTILE HOUSE.
Opening of the Finest Building ni Its
Kind in the World
(From the Philadelphia Times

(From the Philadelphia Times.N
The new reptile house i'll the Zoo hes
been opened and hundreds Of visitors
admire the beauty of the new home of
the serpents. 1t is far prettier th;-n tie
serpent house in the London Zoo,
through costing much less money. The
building is built nf brick and glass.
There is q main building thirty-siN feet
square and on the east and west sides
are two new wings of oval shape and
twenty-eight feet long and thirt ty-two
feet wide, making the building ninety
two feet long.
The glass roof of the wings bulge out
from the main building with symmetrl-
cal beauty, making the house ike
grand conservatory. The main building,
which was originally the aviary, is tiled
with buff-tinted tiles with terra-cotta
edging. The walls of the new wings are
lined with enameled bricks, and .walns-
coating of enameled bricks runs around
the walls of the main building, while
above it the walls are plastered and
tinted delicate cream white.
Stained glass fills the double door and
windows on the south front OF the main
building, and with the creeping vines
that shade the front make picturesque
effect. A fountain shoots up its sllvery
spray above the neat tank of the croco-
diles in the centre OF the main building,
and between hanging plants and baskets
of flowers sweet voiced birds mingle
their melody from glttering cages.
The two back corners of the main
building are banked up with choice
I plants and there will be flowers blooming
in the serpents' home all winter. The
! east wing is lined with cherry-wood
frames and plate glass cases seven feet
high and about nine feet wide, which
are the homes OF the three.climbing
snakes. These snakes live on natural
ground, and real trees ard plants grow IN
the big cases. Every case is reached by
the sun. The heating pipes are so ar
ranged that in blizzard weather the
| snakes can lie right over the pipes, but
| no matter how high the temperature OF
! the cages the temperature OF the building
will never bee clsagreeable to visitors.
The west wing has a curring row OF
plate glass cases for the snakes that don't
climb. They are the homes of the ven:
omous and ground snakes. All their
surroundings are natural and snakes can
be seen in the new reptile house as one
sees them in nature. The cases in the
| west wing are not as large as in the east
wing, but around the walls of the main
building are large case for salamanders,
hell. Blenders and other water reptiles of
their class; and gigantic man-eating
crocociles and tiny turtles aleep together
in the waters of the big tank in the
centre Of the building.
The collection of reptiles in the Zoo
| is the best in the country, and Superln-
| tendent Brown hopes to make it the best
in the world. The east wing is filed with
a typical collection of boa constructors.
The great Indian python lives next door
to the royal python from West Africa,
while the South American constructor
bisses through the plate glass at the
beautiful anaconda from Brazil and the
Cuban tree boa, and the Australian boa,
or carpet snake, curl themselves In ad-
joining cases.
= Ae COllSCttOA VI 2lAAa1Qo eAuA So44LAOA
| snakes is great one, and the new west
| wing has many attraction to draw the
visitors.
The gigantic salamanders from Japan
are watched By the crowds, while every
body stops to look at the ''Gila monster" :"
| He was formerly an Arizona terror, and
| is the only venomous lizard known. 1t
| is the same ssGila monster" who killed a
man in Tombstone, six weeks ago. he
is slow and sluggish in his movement,
out is a regular terror. when aroused.
| Near him is the beautiful starred tortoise
from Madagascar. He is black with
! yellow marks that radiste like star.
This is the first attempt to keep snakes
| with all the surroundings of nature, and
Superintendent Brown is determined to
make it striking feature of the Zoo.
The work on the building was begun
last June and was only completed on
Saturday. The artistic home of the
| reptiles was designed by Superintendent
Brown, who gave two years study to
the subject in order to make it the finest
| reptile house in the world.