173 "^^ V- "iZoological Society : — > T. >M 



of native gentlemen, when the conversation turned upon the nature of 

 antidotes in the case of Suake-bites, the behef as to the cure effected by 

 applying to the wound the head of the identical reptile that had in- 

 flicted it, the charms powerful to compel the Snake to appear, — as to 

 all which matters I have never been able to obtain, amid many tales, 

 any relator daring enough to declare himself an eye-witness of the 

 marvels he recounted. At last, mention being made of the King- 

 snake, a party present said — "At any rate I can assure you of the 

 existence oihim, for it is well known that I have seen," and the story, to 

 the following effect, was then told. The narrator, being at that time, 

 he said, about fourteen years old, had run hastily to the terraced roof 

 of a ground-floor house to recover his kite, when his attention was 

 attracted by a large Gooinna (Cobra capello) which, without perceiving 

 him, raised itself with dilated hood in the erect attitude common with 

 those Snakes, and uttered a loud cry. Immediately some ten or twelve 

 Snakes appeared from different quarters, and assembled before their 

 king, when, after a short time, he pounced upon and devoured one of 

 the smaller ones, with which arbitrary assertion of regal power the con- 

 vocation terminated. Now the narrator of this tale had no interest 

 in attempting to mislead me ; he had mentioned what he stated again 

 and again to the majority of persons present for years before 1 ever saw 

 him, and he is naturally of intelligence, and in no sort the man to tell a 

 useless falsehood. It is, I was then informed, by these sort of assem- 

 blages that the King-snake asserts his power, and that his subjects 

 are called to them for the purpose of bringing tribute, in the shape of 

 dainties for the royal palate ; should, however, no tributary Frog 

 or Cat, or bird be forthcoming, or should even the offering produced 

 be insufficient, one of the luckless ophids pays in person the penalty 

 of the omission, even as had been witnessed by my informant. I 

 ventured with respect to his story to object, in as delicate a way as 

 I could, to the incident of the cry uttered by the King-snake, but 

 in this I was immediately over-ridden. The cry of the large Goomna 

 was well known in the ruinous city where we were, and in which 

 they abound, and it was described to me as a strident sound, the 

 attempted imitation of which resembled the acute staccato note of 

 a treble hautboy. I heard this sound myself subsequently during a 

 sleepless night, emitted by a large Snake which killed a Rat in my 

 bed-room : as it was pitch dark, I was unable to rise and destroy the 

 intruder, but the sound was too peculiar not to have been that of the 

 ophid, according as it did with the description given me, and being 

 unlike anything I ever heard before, as also contrasting distinctly 

 and remarkably with the cries of its victim. I have noted down 

 these trivial, but not incurious matters, as an inducement to the 

 record of more valuable facts as to the opinions held by natives upon 

 the habits of animals, whence perhaps some really useful information 

 may be ehcited. 



Note hy Mr. Blyth. 



The Snake which 1 have had invariably pointed out to me as the 

 Raj Satnp by natives of Bengal, is Bunyarus annularis, which 



