60 Reviezvs. [Jj^Xy 



after he had gone out for the day I searched under the floor and found 

 the culprit in the shape of a tiger snake, which I quickly despatched. 

 In the stable near the house mice were plentiful, and tiger snakes used 

 often to live under the floor in luxury. On one occasion we killed one 

 of these snakes, and, as it was in prime condition, determined to try 

 what it was like cooked ; but the cook would not touch it, so I had to 

 prepare and do it myself. I put various ingredients in to make it 

 appetising, but for all that found it rather dry and bony, though the 

 flesh was white. 



"We once made a tiger snake bite a mouse, which was dead in 

 twenty-one seconds, and on several other occasions when we did the 

 same thing found the time vary from twenty to forty seconds. On 

 one occasion a young man thought he had discovered an antidote, so 

 he brought me a kitten, which had had the hair shaved off the part he 

 wished the snake to bite. Well, I caught a tiger snake, and holding it 

 by the neck, made it bite the required spot, but while the owner was 

 looking for the punctures to rub in his so-called antidote the poor 

 kitten died." 



* * * 



" I was once bitten by one of these snakes which was about 

 six months old, and the only effect was to give me a bad head- 

 ache. I was carrying it in my pocket at the time, with my hand over 

 it to prevent its escaping. And that reminds me that some years ago 

 two venomous water snakes were sent to me from Queensland. They 

 apparenth^ died one cold night, so, putting them in my pocket, I took 

 them to town to preserve them in spirits, but when in a crowded 

 omnibus I felt, as I thought, someone moving my pocket, so putting 

 my hand in it, found my two snakes awake and squirming about, the 

 heat having revived them ; but I managed to keep them in until the 

 city was reached, but I often thought since what the result would have 

 been if one had got out. 



" Snakes cannot travel fast on sand, as the loose material does not 

 offer any resistance to the ribs or bellv scales. When at King Island 

 with members of the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, I had collected 

 one day about a dozen copper-head snakes, and had to transfer them 

 from the collecting bag to a box, so emptied them all out on the sand, 

 my friends looking on from a distance and offering me advice. I was 

 then enabled to pick them up one by one, as they could not 

 escape." 



* * * 



" A few days later we drove to some granite ranges, about twelve miles 

 from the homestead (Coomooboolaroo, Queensland), and on arriving 

 there some of us went along the range where the rocks were high 

 to hunt the rock-wallabies, which live in the crevices of the rocks. We 

 had some exciting attempts to capture them, as they ran up the sides 

 of the rocks and leaning trees with extraordinary agility. They were 

 adepts at climbing and jumping, as we frequently saw them perched on 

 the lower branches of a slightly inclining tree. We managed to catch 

 one, and, placing it in a bag, took it back to the camp. When one of 

 our party was looking for flowers, she came across a carpet snake 

 about lo feet long, coiled up under a clump of bushes. As we after- 

 wards found out. an opossum had just furnished it with a heavy meal, 

 which it was quietly digesting. The reptile was soon transferred to a 

 bran bag, and, later on, arrived in Melbourne with the wallaby." 



