Oct. 9, 1879] 



NATURE 



553 



highlands and lowlands which in one part of their course have 

 cut deep vertical gorges not unlike caiions, while at another they 

 have scooped out wide open valleys with gently sloping sides, so 

 to come to any conclusion based on the assumption that the 

 eroding action of streams is uniform is very unsafe. 



Mr. Browne seems also to take a very peculiar view of the 

 extent of the ancient glaciers, as he speaks of the channel of the 

 little stream he describes as "fufificient to guide the glacier in 

 its flow," seeing that the great glacier which flowed over Scotland 

 from north-west to south-east took no notice of such a channel in 

 its course as the Firth cf Tay, but swept over it and the county 

 of Fife beyond, scarcely showing a trace of being deflected at 

 all. Surely there couki not be such an enormous difference in 

 the dimensions of the glaciers on the opposite coa.t as this would 

 indicate. Whatever was the case on Loch Maree, the glaciers 

 that moved down Loch Assynt and Loch Broom were no 

 pigmies. J as. Durham 



Newport, Fife, September 27 



The Bis-cobra, the Goh-s^tnp, and the Scorpion 



Snakes of all kinds are held in great horror by the natives of 

 India, and they slay indiscriminately and ruthlessly all they 

 come acros", but this horror pales before the terror inspired even 

 by the names of the bis-cobra and goh-sAmp, — terror so great, 

 that, if met with, the harmless animals are given the widest berth 

 possible, and their destruction is never attempted. Though 

 actual animals, they are virtually mythical, that is as regards the 

 deadly properties assigned to them, and we easily recognise in 

 them the originals of the flame-breathing dragon and deadly 

 basilisk. The gaze of the bis-cobra is awful even from a distance 

 and its bite is instant death ; and if the goh-samp breathes upon, 

 or at you, you fall dead at once. 



With such awful reputations attached to them, I lost no time, 

 in ray early career, in attempting to make the .acquaintance of 

 these formidable rej, tiles, and, after much labour, succeeded. 



No one would help me in procuring a bis-cobra, and my 

 servants repeatedly warned me against the risk and madness of 

 the attempt. At one time I had engaged the services of a 

 savage woodsman in collecting birds' eggs, and to him I, one day, 

 applied for a bis-cobra, but he at first refused, and it was only 

 the promise of large bakhsheesh that ultimately induced him to 

 promise his assistance. After several days he appeared carrying 

 an earthen pot at the end of a long bamboo, and meeting me, 

 whispered mysteriously in ray ear " Sahib ! bis-cobra ! " Glad of 

 the news, I summoned my servants, who, when they heard the 

 reason of the summons, reluctantly formed a distant semi- 

 circle. The pasee cautiously put down the pot .-ind .ilso retired 

 to a distance. In no way dismayed, I approached the pot, 

 removed the dirty rag around its month and looked in. As ex- 

 pected, 1 found a beautiful brown and yellow lizard, freely 

 protruding in its fear a forked anguine tongue, and anxious to 

 escape. On taking it up it seized my hand with its delicate 

 teeth, and in this position I held it up to the horror-stricken 

 servants who exclaimed in fear " Sahil) ! sahib ! chur do, phenk 

 do (Master ! master ! let (it) go, throw (it) away)." Then, on my 

 declining to do either, they, like the barbarians of old, waited 

 anxiously to see whether 1 "should have swollen or fallen down 

 dead suddenly," and, seeing no harm, they quietly dispersed. 



My adventure with the goh-samp was unsought and equally 

 satisfactory. 



W.alking in my garden one day, I met the gardener running 

 away with affrighted look from a pear tree, and asked the 

 reason ; he could only g.asp out " Goh-samp, sahib, goh-s.amp I " 

 and implore my return. Delighted at the opportunity, I pressed 

 on, and soon saw the awful reptile trying to dodge mv gaze ; a 

 large scaly, uncanny looking tree lizard about fourteen inches 

 long. In the distance the m.ali (g.ardener) implored me to 

 beware bis "phoonk" (blast of breath), but I courted it, by 

 trying to dislotjge him, which I succeeded in doing by shaking 

 'he bough, and then he threw himself on the ground and 

 cuttle<l up another tree. Both lizards are absolutely harmless, 

 and I believe a poisonoius lizard is quite unknown. 



The scorpion is not dreaded like the snake, but, like it, is 

 inevitably killed. Its habits and pursuits well deserve study ; 

 iiiy observance of the former h.as enabled mc to clear away (to 

 ny own satisfaction) many obscurities with regard to its j)oison 

 ■ capon and the mode of using it. And let me declare at once 

 Miat the popular idea regarding scorpionic suicide is a delusion 

 i)a3ed on impossibility. Owing to the position and nature of its 



weapon, the animal cannot strike itself. It does not protrade 

 a sting as bees, ct hcc genus omne, do, and the line of strike is 

 downwrads and backwards, with at times a lateral but yet down- 

 ward motion. As literally described in Holy Writ, ;'/ strikes but 

 does not sting ; and its motion in so doing may be imitated by 

 seizing the tip of the index or middle finger with the thumb, and 

 suddenly liberating the former. 



The poison is acid and albuminous ; the latter I presume, as 

 on placing a living specimen in spirit, the animal in its death 

 throes ejected it, and it immediately coagulated in threads. 



The pain and constitutional disturbance attendant on scorpion 

 strike are often very severe, and children have occasionally 

 succumbed ; but adults only complain of the pain, which generally 

 passes ofi'in half-an-hour. On two occasions I have p.TSsed through 

 a host of migrating crickets, once by day and once by night ; on 

 the first occasion my carriage wheels crunched for a mile through 

 a cricket migration ; and on the second my palkee bearers' feet 

 .slid about amid crushed crickets ; on this occasion one of the 

 bearers yelled out that a scorpion (out on a cricket spree) had 

 struck his foot, and ^hobbled up to the palkee. Having the 

 means at hand I- applied a paste of ipecacuanha and laudanum, 

 with almost immediate relief, and the bearer trudged on with 

 the rest. 



Peshawar H. F. Hutchinson 



Certain Animal Poisons 



I HAVE had unpleasant experiences of the poisonous properties 

 of the Portuguese man-of-war, the great hornet, and the 

 centipede. 



While bathing at the Cape as a boy I man.aged to get the 

 long lovely blue tentacle of the first round my wrist, and 

 well recollect the attendant long-enduring agony and irritation, 

 while the blue mark remained long on my wrist. Twenty-five 

 years after, while soaking in a P. andO. steamer's marble bath 

 in Madras roads, I suddenly received what seemed an agonizing 

 stab below my left knee, and jumped out of the bath with the 

 pain. The cause was at once apparent, a bit of the' fatal blue 

 filament had been pumped into the bath, and left the familiar 

 mark on my knee, and I bore it for a long time. 



On one occasion I was shov\ing some friends over the famous 

 " Arrah House" and opened a small window to let in more air 

 and light ; in doing so, I unwittingly disturbed the adhesions 

 of a great hornet's nest, and one of the infuriated inmates at 

 once stung me on the left temple ; the pain was intense and the 

 swelling immediate ; aware of the constitutional disturbance 

 which would follow, I made for home (about 500 yards dis- 

 tant), and reached the threshold of my drawing room, and there 

 I was brought to an instant standstill, unable to move hand or 

 foot, and trembling like an aspen leaf. I was laid on a sofa, and 

 asked for a glass of port wine, which soon revived me. 



This dreadful hornet, nearly two inches long, deep brown with 

 a broad yellow band across the abdomen, builds large globular 

 paper nests, and is not rare in the Himalayas, where it may 

 often be seen in the pines. The hillmen dread it extremely, and 

 with good reason, for a swarm, or even a few individuals will 

 attack you fiercely and follow you for miles. 



Griffs, who have fired at a nest, against the remonstrances of 

 their hillmen, have paid dearly for their rashness. When at- 

 tacked, the hillmen squat down and drawing their blankets 

 closely around them, await the subsidence of the storm, rarely 

 escaping two or three stings. I have known one of these hornets 

 kill a child by its sting ; and many horses have been destroyed 

 by an infuriated swarm. These are the dreadful animals which 

 assisted in the expulsion of the Amorites of old. 



The common bee, which in India often builds in trees and 

 ruins, frequently attacks men and horses, irritated by the smoke 

 of the fires (for cooking) lighted under the trees or in the build- 

 ings, and a general sauve qui peut is the only mode of escape. 



Many ludicrous adventures occur from this cause out here, 

 .and I will describe a recent one. The officers of a British 

 regiment stationed at Umballa were dressing for Sunday morning 

 Church parade, when the alarm was given in the compound of 

 three who lived together, that the bees were abroad. As escape 

 from the jiarade was impossible, and the infuriated bees had to 

 be faced, the three grifls made a syce (horse attendant) envelope 

 himself in a blanket, while each wrapped a sheet around himself, 

 and then formed a line, the front officer holding on to the syce's 

 bamboo, and the other two to one another's swords, and in this 

 guise they groped their way out of the compound surrounded by 



