The mirror., 1895-01-10
rron.e. Shopper year. in advance.
In"o Six Months 80 cents.

same line.
Near where Mr.. Viney lives at Ceres,
Cape Colony there is an ostrich farm
run by Mr.. Mallerby. One day while
Mr.. Mallerby was out walking he
chanced upon large blacksnake.
Usually these snakes are very swift
and difficultto catch, but this particular
reptile moved sluggishly away when
the ostrich farmer approached. 1t was
an easy matter for Mr.. Mallerby to kill
the reptile with a stick which he car
ried. Then he noticed that the snake
was very fat; quite swollen, in fact, and
heavy beyond what was to be expected
from it's size. He took it home and
there cut it open. Inside was yellow
snake almost as large as the blackSnake.
The yellow snake faced the blacksnake's
tail. This a surprise, but more was to
follow. The yellow snake also looked
bloated. SO Mr. Mallerby cut open the
yellow snake.
Inside he found another blacksnake,
almost as big as the yellow snake.
Having gone so far in the dissection
business, the experimenter proceeded
to lay open the third layer of serpent,
hoping to turn out a blue or crimson
reptile by the way of variety. Instead,
, he found bunch of eggs. Egg after
egg he took out and laid beside the
f remains of the two blacksnakes and
the yellow snake. But his scientific
thirst for exploration was not yet slaked,
1 and he proceeded to puncture an egg.
: Out popped small blacksnake. He
}. tried another egg, and got another just
a like it. Then he went TO work with
' will, and when he had finished the job
. he found himself responsible for the
S production of 30 minute craWlerS,
n whereas he could credit himself with
the destruction of only one. At last
= accounts the 30 were still under his
~ care.
It From these data he has figured out
vt the story of the 33 snakes. Evidently
r. the eggs belonged to the smaller black
snake, and perhaps she wasn't very
+ lively, for when large yellow snake
II came creeping along behind her she
% couldn't hustle fast enough to escape,
and she underwent the presumably
unpleasant sensation OF being SWal-
" lowed tail first. Now the yellowsnake
We was rather sleepy after it's square meal
"a and drowsed off. 1t hadn't been sleep
:, ing very long when bigger blacksnake
40 came along. This Mr.. Mallerby knows
lp because the acids in snakes stomach
er are very powerful, and had the smaller
an blacksnake been long in the yellow
~ snakes interior it would have been
w eaten by the acids. whereas it was
al hardly affected at all when taken out,
OF although it was dead.
is The blacksnake then, seeing yellow
al snake of just the right size asleep in
the sun, seized it by the head and SWal-
'o- lowed it. This was undoubtedly cannl-
of balism, but then the backsnake didn't
NO know that in taking the yelloWsnake
,or he was eating one of his own family
M al # was poetic Justice, too, and the aven-
IL ger was peacefully enjoying the rest OF
its the we'll fed when Mr.. Mallerby came
act along and killed it. The death must
mt have followed close on the meal, fol
NV .,' the internal acids of the outside black
VIII snake had not acted on the yellow
Use snake any more than the internal acids
,pe of the yellowsnake had acted on th'
On inside bIacksnake. AS for the eggs
0n e. they waren't harmed at all.
VI Afterward Mr.. Mallerby was sorr.
our he did not know all this before n
our Killed Cn0 OulSluo SoIpoilC. OCI Ooi
interesting questions that will never b
- answered now suggests themselves t.
him. Supposing the eggs had hatche'
inside the three layers of snake (the
were evidently just ready to hatch ou
serpents) what would have become Q
YES them. Supposing their mother, tn
blacksnake, and their foster father, tn
yellow snake, who had provided HON
tile for them. had both been digested b
,on their outside parent, the big blacl
,"n snake, and they had remained still
the egg, what would have become {
her, them? The outside blacksnake was
zach male. Wouldn't it be rather too muc
,eri- even in these days of female prepo
derance. to expect male blacksnal
rnei to lay 32 eggs that had come into b
lpril possession purely by accident? Ais
anne if it did so far forget it's rights as
90 q mansnake, what relation would it
49,. ~ to the offspring? Father or mother
ylhg both? And where would the yello
after snake and the original hlacksnake
box. in this mixed up relationship? n
amer Mallerby would like some snake exp'
go who also knows something about gel
lrlca alogy, to come forward and enlight
con- him on these points.-Author E. Vln
the in London Times.