STRANGE LIVE THINGS IN LONDON.

Evening Star, Issue 4294, 30 November 1876, Page 3

STRANGE LIVE THINGS IN LONDON.

London appears to be threatened with an invasion of strange animals and reptiles. An opossum was caught in a rat-trap in” a house m Bethnal green, and was produced at Worship street Police Court, a dispute haviug arisen between its captor and its owner as to whether it should be delivered up without payment of damages it was alleged to have committed. The opossum, which originally came from Australia, had escaped from the house of its owner, where it was tenderly nurtured, and had been for some days leading the life of a vulgar metropolitan rat, scampering under the woodwork of floors, and alarming by its noisy behaviour the inmates of the house where it was ultimately captured. The magistrate ordered that it should be given up to its owner, who, it is to be hoped, will in future at least endeavor to curb its wandering propensities. In the meantime a stid more frightful story is told by a correspondent of one of the daily papers. About a fortnight ago a lady living in Hall street, City road, saw what she thought was the head of a snake near to the dustbin. Anxious to avoid creating a domestic panic, she prudently refrained from informing her daughters of the disagreeable occurrence, but made a confidant of her son-in-law who kept, a sharp look-out, A few days later the snake was again seen at full length, but managed to effect its escape. On a Sunday morning, however, it emerged from the dustbin, and climbed up some wood trelliswork among the leaves of an American creeper. The lady’s son in-law immediately prepared himself for battle, and by a well-aimed blow with a stick brought the reptile to the ground. On measurement, its length from snout to tip of tail was found to be 2ft 6in, and, although there is reason to hope and believe that it was not venomous, it seriously affected the nerves of the family whose premises it visited.—-‘ News of the World/