NOTES. 107 
This viper, in spite of its villainous physiognomy, is reputed to 
be the least dangerous of any of our venomous snakes, with the 
possible exception of the tiny Callophis, about the venom of which 
little or nothing is known. There are no recorded cases of death 
or of serious illness from the bite of the Green Viper. It is possible, 
however, that the amount of venom that could be injected by such 
a large specimen as that here described might result in more serious 
consequences. 
A Passenger-earrying Beetle.—The ‘“‘ Dung Beetles ’’ (Coprinz) 
are very generally infested by large numbers of parasitic mites, 
which can scarcely be classed as passengers. But a specimen of 
Scarabeus gangeticus recently flew into my room and—when 
- captured—was found to be carrying a number of small winged flies 
_ These flies appeared to be in no way inconvenienced by the somewhat 
complicated process of unfolding and furling of the wings of the 
beetle. Nor did they willingly leave the insect when handled, but 
accompanied it into the poison bottle. It is probable that the flies 
(which have been determined as a species of Borborus) breed in 
the store of dung laid up by the beetle for its own family, and find 
this method of transport an easy way of obtaining access to a store 
of suitable food. 
Palm Squirrel and Butterfly.—I do not think that the common 
little striped squirrel (Sciwrus palmarum) has ever been considered 
in the light of a possible enemy to butterflies ; but the following 
occurrence apparently shows that this animal may occasionally 
indulge in an insect diet. I have some large open-air breeding 
cages in front of my laboratory. A pair of Papilio polytes (the 
female of the hector form) occupied one of these cages. Looking 
across at the cage one morning I noticed the female butterfly 
fluttering about in a rather excited manner, and a squirrel following 
every movement—from the outside of the cage. It continued its 
fruitless chase for at least a quarter of an hour. When the butterfly 
flew off to the opposite side of the cage, the squirrel raced round to 
meet it, making repeated pounces at the insect as it fluttered against 
the wire gauze. This particular butterfly, by the way, is supposed 
to mimic Papilio hector—a species that exhibits warning colours, 
and is credited with distasteful properties. It is doubtful if a 
squirrel would have much chance of capturing an uninjured butterfly 
in the open. 
Crows and their Ways.—-In the last number of Spolia I 
described the chase of a full-grown hare by a crow. I have since 
rescued a young leveret from the unwelcome attentions of a pair of 
these omnivorous birds. When I came upon the scene the baby 
hare had its back against a high bank and was pluckily fighting 
the two crows, making feints at them with its front feet whenever 
they tried to approach too close. The crows appeared to be 
distinctly afraid of a front attack. They sidled about, just out of 
