192 ON SNAKE-BITES ANT) THEIR ANTIDOTES, 



The whip Snake. 



The lead-coloured Snake. 



Various other Snakes, according to particular locality. 



Nearly all varieties of Sea- Snakes. 



The non -venomous are : 



The carpet Snake. 

 The diamond Snake. 

 The green Tree- Snake. 

 The brown Tree- Snake, &c. 



These are quite harmless, and like the Boa-Constrictor, capture 

 their prey alive, and gradually devour it. The two first are 

 nocturnal in their habits, and so is the prey they live upon. The 

 pupil of the eye is linear, like a cat's, and having no poison fangs, 

 their bite cannot be dangerous, so that no further observations 

 on them will be required. 



As a general rule, all snakes of a dirty, livid colour, with the 

 fissure of the jaws straight, instead of curved, and flat head, may 

 be looked upon as poisonous, and in a greater degree as these 

 features are more or less present the Deaf Adder and brown- 

 banded Snake being very good illustrations of this rule, as they 

 answer in a high degree to the above leading features, and are, as is 

 well known, the most deadly of all our snakes. There are however 

 many bright-coloured Snakes in this and other countries highly 

 dangerous, as well as the livid ones. The real proof, however, of 

 a venomous snake, consists in the poison fangs, one of which is 

 situated on each side of the upper jaw, hidden in the fold of the 

 gum, and can be seen when the animal is irritated, like a very 

 sharp-pointed tooth, slightly curved backwards ; it is traversed 

 by a grooved canal in the tooth, leading from a gland placed 

 under the eye, where the poison is constantly secreted for use . 

 and when the snake intends to bite, the poison glands, compressed 

 by muscular action, impel the poison into the excretory canal, 

 which conducts it through the fangs, from which it is instilled 

 into the punctured wounds they have made. The longer the 

 snake retains his hold, the more dangerous will the bite prove, as 

 he has been able by continued compression of the apparatus, 



