AUSTRALIAN SNAKES. 21 



if straiglit, no hanii will follow its bite. Again, and 

 with more reason, it is affirmed that a venomous snake 

 has only one scale (the loreal) between the nostril and 

 the eye ; while a non-venomous snake has two or more 

 such scales. Another, perhaps, somewhat of a wag, 

 remarks that if a person bitten by a snake dies (that is, 

 within a reasonable period), the snake is a venomous one. 

 This, however, is by no means infaUible, for several 

 instances are on record of persons having died from 

 fright, induced by the bite of a harmless reptile. Our 

 venomous snakes have six upper labial plates ; while 

 the harmless ones have seven or more. 



Let me say, at once, that there is no ready 

 method of distinguishing the two kinds. An intimate 

 knowledge of the appearance of the venomous species 

 is the only reliable way of determining them at a 

 glance. Such will scarcely serve to show, in a 

 rapidly moving snake, whether the head is, or is not, 

 wider than the body ; what the line of the mouth may 

 be, or whether it possesses one or more loreal scales. 

 When it may be too late, an examination of a «!nake- 

 inflicted wound will reveal its nature. 



If only two punctures appear, a certain distance 

 apart (thus • - ), the snake is, in all probability, 



a venomous one. The wounds inflicted by a non- 

 venomous snake, consist of two rows of parallel 

 punctures — six, eight, or more, in number, as shown 

 in the foregoing illustration. Tliis does not apply to the 



