XVI CONTENTS. 



Serpent— Antidote for tlie bite of the deadly Cobra — Penalty 

 for killing a Fetish Snake — Fascination of Serpents generally 

 believed in America — A pet Toad — Peculiar formation of the 

 tongue of the Toad — A valuable * bit of its skeleton' — Poi- 

 sonous exudation from the Toad — Dr. Buckland's experiments 

 — The Zoological Society's E-eptile-house on a summer night 

 — Death of the Land-Tortoises in the Society's Gardens — 

 The Crested Pigeons there — Curious organization of the 

 Dove-kind — Parrots, Macaws, &c.; their mode of feeding 

 each other — * Pigeon's milk,' the joke not altogether groimd- 

 less — Columbidse — The Passenger-Pigeou — Its power of 

 flight — The Carrier-Pigeon — Its derivation — Proneness to 

 domestication in the tame Pigeon— Breeding-places in the 

 States of Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana — Vast flights of 

 Pigeons — Fertility of the Dove-kind — Conclusion . p. 374 



