108 A^hlrefif;. [Feb. 



Cobra-poison was injected in the same way into other venomous 

 snakes (three specimens of two species of tree- vipers) with the effect 

 that they all died within an liour ; and in 16 other trials of cobra-poison 

 on innocent snakes and otliei'S on frogs, the result was uniformly fatal. 



Dr. Waddell also notes the results obtained by previous enquirers ; 

 further discusses the cause of the immunity of snakes from their 

 own poison and pats forwai-d the apparently well-founded hypothesis 

 that it may be attributed to a toleration of the venom, established 

 through frequent imbibition of small quantities of venom in the modi- 

 fied or attenuated forms which it assumes when mixed with salivary and 

 gastric juices and is absorbed thi'ough the alimentary canal. 



Dr. A. E. Feoktistow contributes to the Mem. Acad. Imp. Sci. St. 

 Petersburg, a preliminary paper on the working of snake-poison on animal 

 life. 



In the Bijdragen tot de Dierhunde of the Royal Zoological Society, 

 Amsterdam, Dr. J. F. Van Bemmelen has given a full account of 

 the anatomy of the throat-regions of the Saurian reptiles, crocodiles, 

 tortoises and snakes. 



Fishes. — I have already adverted to the loss which Indian ichthyo- 

 logical science has suffered in the death of our late member Mr. F. 

 Day. Fortunately he had completed the MS. of the work on the 

 Fishes of India, forming part of the series of volumes on the " Fauna 

 of Bxntish India," now being brought out under the editorship of Mr. 

 W. T. Blanford, and it has recently been published in two volumes. It 

 is an abridgment of the author's larger work bearing the same title, 

 with the additions and alterations published in the supplement to the 

 latter and elsewhere, and is well illustrated with photographic reduc- 

 tions from the plates of the larger work. It contains the characters of 

 over 1,400 species of Fishes belonging to the Indian and Oriental 

 region, comprising forms ranging from the Red Sea to the Pacific, be- 

 sides a lai'ge number of Indian Fresh-water Fishes, and on this account, 

 as well as its portable form, will be of great value to the student of 

 Indian Ichthyology. 



The principal contributions to the knowledge of ladian Fishes 

 during the year, have been from the pen of Mr. Alfred Alcock, the Sur- 

 geon-Naturalist to the Marine Survey, who seems to be making a special 

 study of the subject. He has contributed to our Journal, two papers on 

 Fishes. In the first he gives a list of the shallow-water and deep-sea 

 forms of Pleuronectidm, obtained from the commencement of the survey 

 to date, containing the names of 29 species of which 11 appear to be 

 new, 3 are rare and not previously recorded from Indian watei^s. In the 

 second paper ten species representing 7 different families are described, 



