54 OX THE SNAKES OF SVDNEY, 



I have had some correspondence with Dr. Albert Giinther 

 regarding the habitat of the two Snakes, and I am glad to see 

 the learned Doctor's statement in the Annals of Natural History 

 for November, 1863, that " HoplocepUalus superbus proves to be 

 a Tasmanian species." 



It would be interesting to know whether the Tasmanian Snake 

 is able to inflate the skin of the neck when irritated, but judging 

 from its small size this is not likely to be the case, and we must 

 leave to Tasmaniau Naturalists the solution of this question. In 

 the continental Snake the power to raise itself off the ground for 

 half the length of the body, and to flatten out the neck like a 

 Cobra, is well known, the Black Snake being the only other 

 reptile which has been provided with the same power. A few 

 words more and I have done with this, the most dangerous of all 

 our Snakes. 



Its habitat is, I believe, the temperate part of Australia from 

 East to West. I have taken it on the Murray, in South Australia 

 and Victoria, and receive^ specimens from almost every part of 

 New South Wales and from King George's Sound. The present 

 species is not far removed from the Indian Cobra (Naja iripudians), 

 and its bite is as deadly. A good sized dog bitten became para- 

 lyzed within three minutes, and was dead in fifty minutes after- 

 wards ; a goat died in thirty -five minutes ; another goat which 

 escaped whilst experimented upon, was found dead in the 

 street after a few hours ; a Dingo met the same fate in forty-eight 

 minutes ; an Echidna (Echidna hysirix) lived six hours, and a 

 Common Tortoise, an animal which will live a day with its head 

 cut off, was dead in five hours after being bitten. 



Antidote vendors seeing the effect of the poison, never dared 

 to peril their reputation in the attempt to save the animals so 

 bitten ; I must mention, however, that in making these experiments* 

 chance bites, where the snake makes a dart, bites, and retires, 

 were out of the question, and I grant that under such conditions 

 man or animal may recover ; but if the snake's head is applied 

 to the lip or ear of some animal and the fangs well pressed into 

 the wound, there is little hope of recovery. Let me also give a 

 few words of advice to such men as go about exhibiting these 

 reptiles, and showing their prowess by allowing themselves to be 



