NOTES. 2'M 



be found under lo»s. I took one recently near Puttalam,* and it 

 occurs round Colombo and Kalutara, 



The regularity with which snake-bite returns appear in Vital 

 Statistics demonstrates the necessity for a more detailed analysis 

 than is usually given. What is wanted is information concerning 

 the snakes which are alleged to have inflicted bites on human 

 subjects. Like as not many of them would prove to be harmless. 



In the schedule the numbers prefixed by the letter B refer to 

 the numbers of the species in Mr. Boulenger's volume on Reptilia 

 and Batrachia in the Fauna of British India ; *S'. Z. refers to Spolia 

 Z''!/lanica ; Tropfdonotus asperrimus, No. XXVI., the Ceylon 

 representative of T. piscator was named by Mr. Boulenger subse- 

 quently to the publication of the volume (see Ann. Mag. Nat. 

 Hist. vol. VII., 1891, p. 281). 



By way of coincidence it is to be noted that the principal and 

 proper food of Lycodon aidicus consists of the Brahminy Lizard 

 or " hikanella " {Jlabiiia carinata) which is swallowed entire by 

 the snake and may be removed practically uninjured from the 

 stomach of the latter, if taken at the right time. The size of the 

 ingested lizard in comparison with the snake is sometimes astonish- 

 ing. This lizard is believed both here and in South India to 

 inflict a poisonous bite, and in the Vital Statistics for 1904 (Ceylon) 

 one death is attributed to injury caused by Brahmin Lizard. In 

 reality the *' hikanella" is harmless. A similar tradition of folklore 

 is recorded by Dr. Gadow (Cambridge Nat. Hist. Amphibia and 

 Reptiles, 1901, p. 506) from the South of Spain and Portugal where 

 geckos, called "osga," are abundant and are considered to be 

 dreadfully poisonous by the country folk. Dr. Gadow points out 

 that geckos are absolutely harmless; they cannot even inflict 

 painful bites, but in many countries they are feared as much as 

 the most poisonous snakes. 



There are special difficulties in the way of identifying snakes 

 which have inflicted bites upon the person. Firstly there is the 

 difficulty of catching the snake and of making certain that the 

 one caught is the culprit. Then again in the country districts of 

 Ceylon, as all residents in the Island are aware, there is a reluct- 

 ance to kill the snake, and if killed in some cases, notably in 

 regard to " mapila " and " karawala," the snake must be burnt in 

 accordance with immemorial custom. Because the " mapila " and 



* At Karawalas^awwewa, on the road from Puttalam to Auuradhapura. This 

 Huake was quoted by Bateson (Materials for the Study of Variation, London. 

 1894. p. 123) as an example of maximum variation in the number of ventral 

 shields which correspond with the number of vertebrae, as may be easily seen by 

 observing the ribs pressing ajfainat them during- locomotion. Tn this case the 

 number of ventral shields has been observed to vary from 151 to 240. 



