Note 71a — Chapter VI · REPTILES, FISHES, INSECTS.

Gilbert White mentions this habit of “snakes stinking, se defendendo. A friend (he says) kept a tame snake, in its own person as sweet as any animal; but as soon as a stranger, a cat, or a dog entered the room, it fell to hissing, and filled the room with such nauseous effluvia as rendered it hardly supportable.” Natural History, Selbourne, p. 90. Ed. 1829.