LEAVES FROM THE NOTE-BOOK OF A NATURALIST. 



personvvho might swallow the poison of the, viper 

 by mistake, instead of spirit of wine or water, by 

 boldly drinking a considerable portion of it. 

 They all looked for his instant decease, but he 

 was no more affected than he would have been by 

 taking so much water. 



Dr. Mead relates a similar experiment : 



We resolved to end our poison inquiries by tast- 

 ing the venomous liquor. Accordingly, having 

 diluted a quantity of it with a very little warm 

 water, several of us ventured to put some of it upon 

 the tip of our tongues. We all agreed that it 

 tasted very sharp and fiery, as if the tongue had 

 been struck through with something scalding or 

 burning. This sensation went not off in two or 

 three hours ; and one gentleman, who would not be 

 satisfied without trying a large drop undiluted, 

 found his tongue swelled with a little inflammation, 



. 75 



and the soreness lasted two days. But neither his 

 nor our boldness was attended with any ill conse- 

 quence. 



Those who make such experiments, as well as 

 those who suck wounds occasioned by the bite of 

 venomous serpents, should be quite certain that 

 the skin of the lips and fauces is unbroken, and 

 that there is no wound or abrasion about the gums 

 or tongue, otherwise fatal consequences might en- 

 sue. But if all be right, the immunity with 

 which the venom of serpents may be taken into 

 the stomach ceases to be surprising when we re- 

 member that the deadly wourali poison is given in 

 the country which produces it as a tonic with 

 success, and that milk, so nutritious when taken 

 as food, if it be injected into the veins, is 

 mortal. 



THE Reptile-house in the garden of the Zoo- 

 logical Society in London has proved to be of no 

 small attraction. I remember when the unhappy 

 carnivora were doomed to live therein, breathing 

 their own impurities, and dragging on a miserable 

 existence as long as their constitutions enabled 

 them to bear up against the miasmata that em- 

 bittered their shortened, incarcerated lives. In 

 vain was every argument enforced against the 

 continuation of this condemned cell for carnivo- 

 rous captives. For a long time the answer to all 

 remonstrances was after the reply of those who 

 still, in their despair, cling to the Smithfield 

 abomination. The place was provided for the 

 animals, and they must bear it as they could no 

 matter what the cost, or the suffering, or the in- 

 tolerable nuisance to all who were blest or cursed 

 with noses. At last, the zoological John Bull 

 was roused. Like his political brother, he 

 showed his capacity for bearing a great deal, and 

 was treated accordingly by those who did not 

 know the nature of the being with whom they 

 had to reckon. The zoological bull gave signs 

 of kicking, and then it was very wisely con- 

 sidered that there was something in his remon- 

 strance, and a new den for the carnivorous quad- 

 rupeds was built, where they breathe the free air 

 of heaven, and live long and comparatively happy 

 accordingly, notwithstanding the cantankerous 

 London clay, so fatal to the race. Their old 

 roofed dens, every one of which looked into a 

 close room, odoriferous with ammonia and all the 

 rest of it, to an intensity not to be described, 

 were appropriated to the reptiles whose lower 

 organization and aptitude for heat, combined with 

 the comparative absence of anything that could 

 taint the air, offered no similar offehce to the 

 senses, while the lives of the animals themselves 

 were not placed in jeopardy ; and so, notwith- 

 standing the croakings and forebodings, this 

 reptile-house has become one of the most popular 

 exhibitions of that most popular vivarium. At 

 the risk of being thought somewhat presumptu- 

 ous, I beg to recommend this instance to the con- 

 sideration of those whose higher destinies are 



I 



interwoven with zoological John's political broth- 

 er. The latter, like the former, is, as we have 

 already hinted, long suffering ; but when he be- 

 comes restive in earnest, it is time to look out 

 and take warning, or, depend upon it, he will 

 toss and gore several persons. 



The first remark made by an accurate observer , 

 on looking around the apartment now dedicated 

 to the reptilia, will, probably, refer to the fixed 

 attitude in which they remain. There they stand 

 or lie, motionless as statues. Here and there ix 

 snake may occasionally be seen to creep or raisu 

 itself, and a lizard to change its position, but, 

 generally speaking, especially in the broad day, 

 they are perfectly still ; and there are times when 

 not one is in motion behind the glass cases in 

 which they are confined. At such periods, thosij 

 may be excused who have taken the whole of th>3 

 reptiles in this room for stuffed specimens. The 

 inhabitants of that Oriental city who figure so 

 awfully in the Arabian tale, turned into stone for 

 their crimes, with the exception of the lonely one 

 whose voice is heard reading the Koran in the 

 midst of the petrified sinners, could not have looked 

 more lifeless. 



Why is this 1 



Because all predatory reptiles, especially snakes 

 and lizards, take their prey by surprise ; and, 

 added to this motionless habit, the animal's haunt, 

 when on the lookout for prey, coincides generally 

 so harmoniously with its color, that the bird or 

 insect fearlessly approaches and is caught. Place, 

 as a familiar example, a toad in a melon-bed a 

 plan frequently adopted if the bed be infested with 

 emmets. These insects approach the motionless 

 toad, whose hue corresponds with the color of the 

 earth of the bed, without suspicion, and are taken 

 by the tongue of the reptile with a motion too 

 quick for the eye to "follow. All that can be 

 seen is the approach of the emmet within a cer- 

 tain distance within, in fact, tongue-shot, and its 

 there vanishing. The mechanism of this appa- 

 ratus, by means of which the toad takes its prey, 

 will be noticed hereafter. 



Throughout the animal creation, the adaptation 



