30 AUSTRALIAN SNAKES. 



Whenever common names are in use, such have 

 been adopted in the following pages. As, however, 

 there are some snakes which have not received popular 

 designation, suitable names have been supplied for the 

 general reader. Such can, however, never take the 

 place of technical or exact terms, and are liable to abuse. 



It is the practice of some writers to reject popular 

 names in universal use and substitute new ones of their 

 own invention. To supply an appropriate name for a 

 species not previously recognised is legitimate and 

 laudable ; but to ignore an existing name and sub- 

 stitute a new one without the slightest justification is 

 not only misleading, but is a practice to be strongly 

 condemned. 



Here is a case in point : one author states that 

 there are three Death Adders in Australia, namely : — 

 The purplish, the short, and the spine-tailed Death 

 Adders. The author of the article has given us 

 the scientific terms of the snakes for which he 

 has (for some unexplained reason, or for no reason 

 at all) invented these names. The Australian bush- 

 man would be incredulous if he were informed that 

 his Black Snake was to be called the purplish Death 

 Adder, that his Tiger Snake (or Brown-banded Snake) 

 was henceforth to be known as the short Death Adder, 

 and that his common Death Adder was to be dis- 

 tinguished as the spine-tailed Death Adder, in order 

 that it might not be confounded with the other two. 



