74 Messrs. T. L. Brunton and J. Fayrer on the [Jan. 22, 



dorsal lymph-sac of each. The quantity injected into No. 1 was estimated 

 to be equal to three or four drops of the fresh poison, that into No. 2 

 about a drop, and into No. 3 about half a drop. These estimates, how- 

 ever, are not to be absolutely depended on. 



The injection was made into all three about 3 P.M. 



3.17. Nos. 1 and 2 are sitting with the head much more erect than usual 

 and the belly depressed. No. 3 has the head depressed between the fore 

 paws. 



3.22. No. 3 is now sitting up in the normal posture. 



4. No. 1 lies quite quiet ; when moved its limbs give a slight wriggle. 

 Applied strong acetic acid to its legs ; after many seconds it gave a faint 

 wriggle. No. 2 also lies quiet. When its legs are pulled back it can 

 still wriggle them up towards its body. When held up it can kick well. 

 After being placed on the table it suddenly, and without any apparent 

 reason, sprung up to a considerable height. No. 3 presents the same 

 appearance as No. 2, but seems more paralyzed. 



4.5. No. 1 does not react at all to any painful stimulus. Nos. 2 and 

 3 wriggle their legs when pinched. The observation was now discon- 

 tinued. Next morning all three were dead. 



Action on Lizards. 



The action of cobra-poison upon lizards seems very similar to that 

 which it has upon frogs ; the animal becomes sluggish and difficult 

 to rouse ; and the bitten part is affected by paralysis, so that, if a limb 

 has been thus wounded, it is dragged by the animal. The paralysis 

 afterwards extends to the rest of the body, and death ensues. Experi- 

 ments on this subject have been recorded by one of us (Dr. Fayrer) in 

 the * Thanatophidia of India/ 



Effect of Serpent-venom on Snakes. 



The bite of venomous serpents, such as the cobra, Daboia, and Bun- 

 garus, generally proves fatal to innocuous serpents, but not always. The 

 occasional escape of the latter is probably due to the quantity of poison 

 absorbed having been small, either absolutely, or relatively to the size of 

 the bitten snake. The effect of the size of the innocuous snake upon the 

 time required by the poison to produce a fatal effect is illustrated by 

 experiment /, in which a small rat-snake was killed by the bite of a Bun- 

 garus cceruleus (less poisonous than a cobra) in 7 hours 17 minutes, while 

 a large snake of the same species was not killed by the bite of a cobra 

 till after about 36 hours (experiment a); and another still larger one 

 was unaffected by the cobra-venom (experiment g). Venomous snakes 

 are not generally affected either by their own poison or that of another 

 sort of snake, no less than 15 drops of venom having been injected hypo- 

 dermically into a cobra (Experiment/-) without effect; but small ones 



