22 AUSTRALIAN SNAKES. 



Sea Snakes, all of which are venomous, and produce 

 many punctures, as with the harmless land snakes. 



It does not follow that hecause we know a snake 

 when adult, that we necessarily recognise the same 

 species when young. The Australian Brown Snake 

 furnishes us with an admirable illustration of this. The 

 adult snake is usually uniform brown above ; but, when 

 young, it is alternately banded with brown and white 

 (see Plate 8), and at various stages of growth 

 presents such a different appearance that it has received 

 many names ; the identity with previously described 

 specimens being unsuspected. 



Another source of misunderstanding is furnished 

 by the altered aspect of a snake immediately after casting 

 its skin. A person unfamiliar with, say, the Brown Snake, 

 in all its phases, seeing it just before the change took 

 place, might fail to recognise it after the operation was 

 concluded. 



In order to render the recognition of these snakes 

 the more certain and easy, specimens of the venomous 

 species, accurately identified, should be prominently 

 exhibited in every town and settlement in Australia, 

 supplemented by the life-size colored illustrations, 

 prepared by the publisher of this little book, posted at 

 the railway stations, and hung in schools and elsewhere. 



Medical men, in particular, should make themselves 

 acquainted with the properties of our snakes, and in 

 this connection let me say a word. I have, myself, 



