386' Proceedings of the Boyal Physical Society, 



It is curious — as Mr Boulanger remarked when I showed 

 him the specimen — that the snake displayed no more dis- 

 cretion than to swallow a fish with such formidable serrated 

 spines ; but at any rate, it evinced this amount of discretion 

 that it swallowed its victim head foremost. The large size 

 of the fish, in comparison to the narrow head and neck of 

 the snake, clearly demonstrates the enormous elasticity of 

 the swallov/ing apparatus of these reptiles. 



Evidently the snake on swallowing the siluroid tried hard 

 to eject it, the result being that the spines of the latter 

 passed through its captor's abdominal wall ; for if the spines 

 had pierced the tissues of the snake from being erected by 

 the fish alone, without any backward movement on its part, 

 they would certainly have caused a rent, while it may be 

 seen they have passed through, causing no linear tear what- 

 ever. 



Enhydrina Vcdcikadyen is one of the most poisonous of 

 the Hydrophidse. Mr Boulanger, at the Natural History 

 Museum, South Kensington, showed me a specimen somewhat 

 analogous to mine — viz., a coral-snake {Elaps lemniscatus) 

 which had swallowed an Amphisb?enoid. The anterior half 

 of the latter is seen protruding through the side of its 

 captor. (For an account of this specimen see Proc. Zool. Soc, 

 1885, p. 327.) 



My specimen, and the one which was shown to me by Mr 

 Boulanger, are the only two of the kind he has ever seen. 



XXXI. Simiole Method of Testing the Efficacy of Antiseptics. 

 By G. Sims Woodhead, Esq., M.D., F.E.C.P.E., 

 r.R.S.E. [Plate XVIIL] 



(Read 16tli February 1887.) 



Whilst working at the subject of antiseptics, I found 

 considerable difficulty in testing the action of any sup- 

 posed germicide on a micro-organism, with any degree of 

 readiness and accuracy. I have therefore endeavoured to 

 devise some simple and reliable method of testing such 

 action. 



