202 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



rate of from six to twelve cents each, amounted to $50,000. 

 12 A, February 16, 312. 



EXTIRPATION OF SERPENTS IN THE WEST INDIES. 



The great abundance of poisonous serpents in Santa Lucia 

 and other adjacent West India Islands has given rise to in- 

 quiries as to methods of exterminating them, on account of 

 their having become a serious impediment to the proper cul- 

 tivation of the island and to the reclamation of the wild lands 

 of the interior. Among other means suggested for this pur- 

 pose is the introduction of the mungoose, the secretary-bird 

 of Africa, and the kingfisher of Australia. Specimens of the 

 first-named animal have been forwarded to Saint Lucia for 

 the purpose of trying the experiment; and reports of encoun- 

 ters between the mungoose and serpents have been since 

 noted, in all of which the former invariably came off success- 

 ful. In several instances the animal appeared to have been 

 bitten in its encounter, but with no injurious result. 



It is probable, as already suggested by several persons, 

 that the object in view would be completely attained within 

 a reasonable time by allowing hogs to run wild and multiply 

 in the islands. Their powers in destroying rattlesnakes in 

 North America are well known, and it is not at all unlikely 

 that they would be as effective in the West Indies, although, 

 from the great abundance of serpents, quite a long time might 

 be needed before any appreciable effect would be manifest. 

 11 A y January 3, 1871, 1. 



POISONOUS SERPENTS IN AUSTRALIA. 



Although the number of poisonous serpents in North Amer- 

 ica is sufficiently great to render it a matter of considerable 

 uncertainty to the unlearned whether any given individual 

 is likely to prove dangerous or not, we may congratulate 

 ourselves at being: better off than the Australians. In the 

 recently published catalogue of the serpents of that country 

 by Dr. Krefft, of Sydney, we find enumerated about eighty- 

 three species, of which only twenty-three are non-venomous. 

 Of the sixty poisonous kinds fifteen are sea snakes, which 

 are frequently encountered when bathing. The total num- 

 ber of serpents catalogued as occurring in America, north 

 of Mexico, is about one hundred and fifty, of which only 



