38 REPTILES AND BIRDS. 
to the natives appear chiefly to have happened at night, when the 
reptiles, having been surprised or trodden on, inflicted the wound 
in self- defence. For these reasons the Cingalese, when obliged to 
leave their houses in the dark, carry a stick with a loose ring, the 
noise of which, as they strike it on the ground, is sufficient to warn 
the snakes to leave their path.” 
In some parts of the vast Indian region the natives regard the 
innocuous Chameleon as venomous ; in other parts various Geckos 
or other Lizards. In Bengal there is a current notion regarding a 
terrifically poisonous Lizard, which is termed the dzs-cobra, but 
which has no existence except in the imagination of the natives— 
who bring the young of the Monitors and occasionally other well- 
known Lizards as specimens of the object of their dread. Again, 
the little Burrowing Snakes (7Zyfhlops), which, superficially, have 
much the appearance of earth-worms, are there popularly regarded 
as highly poisonous, though not only are they harmless, but physically 
incapable of wounding the human skin. Strangers who are little 
versed in zoology are commonly led astray by such errors on the 
part of natives of those countries, and, unfortunately, there is a 
number of stock vernacular names w ‘hich are applied to very different 
species in different localities. Thus, Europeans in India are familiar 
with the appellation “Carpet Snake,” as denoting a very deadly 
reptile, but nobody can there point out what the Carpet Snake really 
is; and the one most generally supposed to bear that name is a 
small innocuous Snake (Lycodon aulicus), which is common about 
human dwellings. In the Australian colony of Victoria, however, 
the appellation Carpet Snake is bestowed upon a terribly venomous 
species (Hoplocephalus curtus); while in the neighbouring colony of 
New South Wales, a harmless and even useful creature (Morelia 
spilotes) is habitually known as the Carpet Snake. 
With regard to the poison of venomous Snakes, attention has 
lately been directed to the virtue of ammonia or Volatile alkali. 
This should be administered internally, mixed with alcoholic split 
and water, in repeated doses; and it should also be injected into a 
vein—about one drachm of the liguor ammonite of the shops being 
mixed with two or three times that quantity of water. The patient 
should be kept moving as much as possible, and the effects of a 
galvanic battery should also be tried in cases where animation is 
nearly or quite suspended. By these means it is asserted that quite 
yecently some very remarkable cures have been effected in Australia. 
The Ophidia have many enemies among mammalia, such as the 
well-known Mungoose, also swine, and various ruminating quadrupeds, 
