BY DE. BERNCASTLE. 193 



to squeeze more poison into the wound than by a superficial 

 sudden bite ; there may also be found only one puncture instead 

 of two, if the bite has been given sideways, one fang only having 

 entered the part, which might lessen the danger. 



One great peculiarity in all the Australian Snakes is, as 

 compared with the venomous Snakes of other countries, the 

 remarkably small size and shortness of their poison fangs, seldom 

 exceeding one-sixth of an inch, and often much less, with pro- 

 portionate small calibre ; which fact being well borne in mind 

 will assist materially in diminishing the danger, and simplifying 

 the treatment as regards the excision of the bitten part, which, 

 being never deep, does not require those frightful mutilations we 

 often hear of in the country, with the addition of gunpowder set 

 alight on the wound, fingers chopped off, and other useless acts, 

 which a knowledge of the anatomy of the apparatus will prove at 

 once to be quite uncalled for, as the cutting out of a piece of 

 flesh as large as a sixpence, well raised up with the forceps, 

 will necessarily include any part that the fangs could have 

 reached. 



It is widely different with the Snakes of tropical countries, 

 whose fangs are often much thicker and longer ; for instance, the 

 Puff- Adder of South Africa, of which I have seen the fangs half 

 an inch long, and thick in proportion. The Rattle-Snake, and 

 Cobra di Capello, have much larger fangs than the Australian 

 Snakes, their bite being also much more fatal. The Deaf- Adder is 

 peculiar in having larger fangs than any other Australian Snake, 

 and has something at the end of its tail like a sting, about a 

 quarter of an inch long, similar to a thorn, which it can erect at 

 will. There is a popular error very prevalent that when it bites 

 it stings simultaneously with its tail, which it appears to do by 

 its wriggling motion, but this caudal termination has been ex- 

 amined by the microscope and found to be imperforate ; it only 

 occurs in the old males, and, in spite of the terrors it has been 

 invested with, must be considered as a harmless appendage of 

 this otherwise most deadly reptile. 



Sea Snakes are known by their flattened tail, and are found 

 in abundance in the Eastern Seas, near the shore. I caught one 

 on the Malabar coast, with which the sea was swarming, about 



