62 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAl, MUSEUM vol.73 



"Kipili." "Kiswahili" for young snakes, " Kinyamwezi " for 

 young snakes, also very dark ones. 



"Pilipili." "Kisagara" and "Kikami" for young snakes. 



"Boma." "Kisagara" and "Kikami" for large snakes; "Kiswa- 

 hili" and "Kinyamwezi" for yellow or desert-colored forms. 



''Moma." "Kiswahili" for waterside puff adders (presumably 

 dark-colored specimens in contradistinction to "Boma"). 



" Mamba ile." " Kinyamwezi " for large puff adders (reddish-brown 

 specimens pointed out). 



A very large series were gathered together from Dodoma, Saranda,, 

 Manyoni, Kondoa Irangi, and Shinyanga. The Dodoma snakes are 

 very yellow in color, and I came across quite a number of them in 

 the bush. 



Gurukezi tells me that he was once bitten on the fore arm by a 

 "moma"; he sucked the place and then rubbed on "dawa" without 

 any ligaturing or incision. The medicine which he applied is known 

 as "musaweye" and is composed of the leaves of "ilandoyakini," 

 "kacooni," "mgwegwe," "mkuni," "munumbulu," "mtalali," 

 "mkola," "musunga," " kalilalela," "musenga," and "mufuwati.'^ 



These are chewed up in the mouth and when dried have much the 

 appearance of green cow dung. It is moistened and a few grains 

 applied to the site of the bite, and a quantity about the size of an 

 ordinary marble is mixed with water and drunk. If the mixture 

 applied to the bite does not remain attached the medicine is no good 

 for that species of snake, and another must be tried. The object of 

 taking it by the mouth is to make the patient vomit the venom. 

 Only one dose is taken. 



The Wanyimwezi say that when the puff adder says "Ouuuu" it 

 wants a bird called "kamunda" to eat. Then the "kamunda" comes 

 near and is caught by the snake and swallowed; after feeding the 

 snake retires to the grass in a gorged condition, remaining inert. 



A native who was struck by one fang on the knuckle at the base 

 of the index finger of his left hand showed no signs of poisoning on the 

 first day (he was bitten at 9 o'clock in the morning) except that he was 

 drowsy. The next day, however, his arm swelled gradually from the 

 the hand to the shoulder until it was an enormous size by 4 o'clock 

 in the afternoon and his condition was decidedly precarious. Within 

 five minutes of being bitten he was in hospital and cautery and per- 

 manganate applied to rather superficial incisions at the site of the 

 bite. Antivenene was injected on the second day. 



It seemed possible that he might have recovered without any 

 treatment; at any rate, on the fifth day he was able to rise and wash 

 himself, and steadily improved. 



They fed well on rats (R. c. microdon and A. a. neumanni). 



