MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 135 



No. VI.— A CENTIPEDE EATING A SNAKE. 



{WITH A PHOTOGRAPH). 



I believe it to be a fact tbat Centipedes in general are eminently raptorial in 

 their habits, attacking anything that they can overpower. It never occurred 

 to me, however, that a Centipede would be bold enough to attack a snake a& 

 appears to be the case in this instance. Considering the subject worthy of re- 

 cord, and possibly of interest to members, I had a photograph taken about half 

 the real size, depicting the Centipede and snake in the position I saw them 

 and in which I understand they were found. 



The specimens were received by Dr. Pedley, who sent them home (unfor- 

 tunately before they were identified) to his son for the Marlborough College 

 Museum, and it is to him I am indebted for the following information. 



They were found on the floor of a house at Kokine, a suburb of Rangoon, 

 the snake alive and writhing in the clutches of the Centipede. They were 

 killed and at once transferred to a jar of spirits, and the owner thinking the 

 incident an unusual one sent the specimens to Dr. Pedley. An inspection of 

 the photo will show that the skin and flesh for about two inches has been 

 completely removed from the tail of the snake and presumably eaten by the 

 Centipede, which was one of the common large brown unstriped variety often 

 met with iu this part of the province. 



It would have been very interesting to know if the snake was uninjured be- 

 fore the Centipede attacked it, but in any case as the snake was alive when 

 found, it might still have held its own against the Centipede. I shall be glad 

 if this note and photo should prove to be of any interest to members of the 



Society. 



W. P. OKEDEN. 



Rangoon, January 1903. 



No. VII— A MAN-EATING PANTHER. 



The panther first began man-eating in this district in the rains of 1901 : 

 apparently he came from the Bangs, as his first kills were in the villages 

 bordering on those native states. I think he probably took to man-eating on 

 account of the 1900-1901 famine which was very bad indeed in the Dangs, 

 many people dying out in the jungle (I have myself seen skulls of those who 

 tried to get into British territory but died by the way) ; during the famine 

 the deer and pig in the forests would naturally diminish on account of the 

 Bhils and Konkanis being hard up s and this together with the circumstance 

 of people moving about in the wildest and least frequented parts in search 

 of edible fruits and roots probably led the panther on some extra hungry 

 day to take to man for food. The first man he took was probably 

 dying or asleep in the jungle. I did not hear of the man-eater till last 

 February when my camp was at Mulher in the centre of the valley where he 

 was killing : his beat in the Mulher Valley was about 7 miles long and 3 broad. 

 I remained 10 days at Mulher trying my best by means of " holding the 

 hills," beats and sitting up over kills to get the beast, but was unsuccessful and 



