THE EXPERIMENTS. 145 
succession. The first fowl died in thirteen minutes, the second 
in fifteen minutes, the third in three hours and four minutes. 
A variegated male Boomslang bit the bared thighs of two 
fowls within the space of one minute. The first fowl died in nine ~ 
minutes, the second in forty-five minutes. 
A fowl bitten slightly lived two days and died, the wound 
oozing blood, and the mucous membranes of the mouth being 
inflamed and congested. 
A variegated (greenish-yellow and black) Boomslang bit a 
fowl on the thigh. I killed the snake and injected some of its 
blood into the victim. No curative effect followed. The fowl 
died in twelve minutes. 
A brown Boomslang bit a fowl on the thigh. I killed the 
snake and injected contents of its gall into the fowl, which died 
in eleven hours. 
Another fowl was bitten and injected with the serum of the 
blood of the snake that bit it. No curative effect ; it died in 
fourteen minutes. 
A brown female Boomslang bit a duck on the thigh. Pro- 
gressive exhaustion ; slight oozing of blood in mouth; rapid 
heart’s action ; paralysis ; death in seventeen minutes. 
A second duck was bitten by the same snake immediately 
after the first one. Same symptoms; died in thirty-five minutes. 
A variegated Boomslang bit a duck on the neck. Within 
three minutes it fell on its back completely paralysed ; it remained 
still for another five minutes ; struggled feebly when touched. 
Died in nineteen minutes. 
A variegated Boomslang bit a large cock fowl on the comb. 
Blood oozed from the cock’s nostrils one minute after being 
bitten. It began to mope, then suddenly sprang four feet straight 
up into the air and fell a dead mass, three minutes after being 
bitten. 
The glands of a variegated Boomslang were rubbed up with a 
_ little water and injected with a hypodermic syringe into a vein in 
a live and active Cape Jackal. The animal died before the needle 
could be withdrawn. It perished as quickly as if shot through 
the head with a bullet. The venom, being injected into a vein, 
reached the heart almost immediately, and instantly paralysed 
its action. 
