768 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. J II. 



Remarhs: — It seems singular that so many snakes were found so close 

 together at the same time. This specimen differs from an ordinary 

 S. violaceus in the following ways : — 



(1) Frontal being decidedly longer than distance to end of snout. 



(2) 7 labials (3rd and 4th entering eye). 



(3) 2 anterior temporals. 



(4) 31 subcaudals. 



It is also remarkable in having 3 preoculars on the left side. 



F. WALL, Capt., I.1I.S. 

 Rangoon, 7th July, 1899. 



No. X.-* PROTECTIVE POWERS OF SCENT IN ANIMALS. 



I regret that my endeavours to solve the difficulty that Mr. Eardley 

 Wilmot is labouring under have not been successful. I shall now offer 

 another solution, namely, that the difficulty has arisen solely out of Mr. 

 Eardley Wilmot's own imagination, and that his premises are not based on 

 solid proof. I am not by any means satisfied that deer, admitting that 

 they can smell, do not notice, i.e., wind, a man in a tree, that a man can 

 smell a tiger or that a tiger cannot smell a man. Mr. Eardley Wilmot 

 assumes that all these are facts, and then complains that his assumptions 

 have landed him in a difficulty which is insoluble, I think, too, he has some- 

 what lost sight (if the topic which we are discussing, it is not whether 

 animals have powers of scent, but whether animals have developed powers 

 of scent as a means of protection against their enemies and use them as 

 such. No doubt most animals can smell, but what impression does smell 

 convey to their minds, does it cause them pleasure, awaken their curiosity or 

 create alarm. It is only the latter impression that we have to deal with. 

 Mr. Eardley Wilmot's cow buffalo apparently felt no alarm at scenting the 

 tiger's tracks, so that, admitting that she was following up the track, the 

 incident does not help us. So far from protecting hei", the power of scent 

 might have led her into the tiger's jaws. No doubt buffaloes are very 

 useful in following up a wounded tiger, but then they are driven towards 

 where the tiger is supposed to be lying up so as to prevent a sudden 

 charge in long grass, and I have seen them pass a tiger which had been 

 dead some hours and was a little high, without showing the slightest emotion 

 of any land. However, this is really a digression, and it is necessary again 

 to bear in mind the distinction between winding and scenting. I am open to 

 conviction, but I am not aware of any game animal in this country which 

 has developed protective powers of scenting. I mean that the instinct of 

 an animal that can scent a track is generally to follow it, if this instinct is 

 absent, whatever impression is conveyed by the track is one of curiosity. 

 It is therefore off the point in discussing our subject to talk about tigers 



» Notes on this subject Will be found in Vol. XI, pages 314j 526 and 745.— Editor. 



