Dr. J. E. Gray on new Species of Mammalia. 385 



a coffee-planter, who related the following circumstance that oc- 

 curred to him a few years ago. Mr. Daly was out shooting with a 

 few dogs (mongrel spaniels), when he came upon one of these Vipers, 

 and the dogs having attacked the snake before he could kill it, three 

 were bitten, one after the other ; the first died almost instantly, the 

 second in about two hours after, whilst it was being carried home, 

 and the third lingered for nearly three months from emaciation, 

 general debility, loss of appetite, &c, and eventually made a good 

 recovery. This we can readily understand : the first dog bitten re- 

 ceived the largest quantity of poison, whilst the second received less, 

 and when it came to the third the supply was no doubt all but ex- 

 hausted, and the rapidity with which the wounds must have been 

 inflicted left no time for fresh poison to be secreted. This accounts 

 for the ultimate recovery of the dog. 



" In January last a lady at this place was returning from a walk 

 with her child, followed by a bull-terrier puppy about six months 

 old ; her house was situated some distance from the gate, and the 

 road on either side was covered with spear-grass. It was just dusk. 

 The puppy suddenly darted in front and began to bark vociferously. 

 Although the lady had seen nothing, she took alarm at the movements 

 of the puppy, and called out to me as I happened to be passing by 

 the gate at that moment. On going to see what was the matter, I 

 found a large Viper coiled up in the centre of the road, and the puppy 

 making a great noise from a respectful distance. The snake was 

 closely coiled up, with the neck bent abruptly backwards, and the 

 head fixed almost horizontally ; it began to puff itself out something 

 after the manner of the Puff-Adder, and hissed loudly, intently watch- 

 ing the movements of the dog, no doubt awaiting an opportunity to 

 strike it, when I called the puppy away. The instant the puppy 

 turned its head, the snake glided with the rapidity of lightning into 

 the surrounding grass and disappeared. The next day it was killed 

 in the same garden, and brought to me ; it measured 4 feet 6 inches 

 in length. 



" These Snakes were formerly designated ' Cobra Manil ' by the 

 Portuguese, in consequence of their bite proving as rapidly fatal as 

 that of the Cobra. The word Manil is a corruption of the Tamil word 

 Mannunippamhoo, which literally means Earth-eating Snake, and is 

 the name given by the natives to the Uropeltis grandis, commonly 

 termed ' Double-headed ' Snake, and which they believe lives entirely 

 on earth, from its being frequently found underground." 



The following papers were read : — 



Description of some New Species of Mammalia. 

 By Dr. John Edward Gray, F.R.S., F.L.S., etc. 



Among some Mammalia which Mr. A. It, Wallace has lately sent 

 to the British Museum, which he collected in Morty Island in 1861, 

 are two species of a frugivorous Bat, which does not appear to have 

 been hitherto registered in the Catalogue. This Bat may be easily 

 known from all the other Cynopteri by the extraordinary length of 



