The Zoologist— September, 1869. 1823 



animal to pursue him, when from behind came his companions who 

 were in wait secretly, and bolted away with the poor puppies thus left 

 unguarded by their mother. 



" Otters are very useful to fishermen in Bengal, who have them for 

 catching fish in rivers as well as in ponds ; but as the animals always 

 came down to fish at dead of night in deep ponds, I had no chance of 

 seeing them dive. 



" At Burrah-nuggur, a village about six miles north of Calcutta, I 

 saw in a summer month, on a large tree, numerous bats, which were 

 swinging with their heads downwards, and repassing guava seeds 

 from their mouths to the ground below. I was informed that these 

 animals have mouths only, which serve the purposes of consuming 

 as well as for repassing,*— /Zfl; Chandra Sandel ; Benares, February 

 25, 1867. 



These letters show the Babu to be a teen observer, whilst they 

 contain valuable matter : would that more natives would so observe, 

 for it is very interesting to have notes of native ideas and belief 

 recorded by natives. The subject is tempting; but I will not swell 

 this paper to greater length. The native belief regarding the flying 

 foxes is very curious, and I cannot conceive whence it is derived ; 

 for natives handle these animals, and even kill them for their fat, which 

 they esteem medicinally. 



The natives call the thick yellow snake found in the N.VV. Provinces 

 (Cylindrophis Johnii ?) the double-headed snake : it is perfectly harm- 

 less, and is often kept by gardeners and others in earthen vessels. 

 At times a scar is made at the tail end, and two minute marks for eyes 

 added, when it is at first difficult to say which is the head and which 

 the tail, the eyes being very small. I extract the following regarding 

 this snake from my note-book :— " To-day (Oct. 12, 1867), about 

 noon, a snake commonly known by the above name came up the road 

 quietly to my front door ; 1 went out, and found him basking in the 

 sun ; he was very thick, cylindrical, and covered with fine yellow 

 scales. Both ends were of about the same size and shape, and he was 

 very sluggish in his movements. I was told he was quite harmless. 

 Gaindooa, my gardener, said that he once kept one for my predecessor, 



* " Mr. Blj'th states that it ejects by the mouth the large seeds of any fruit that it 

 has eaten."— JerdoD, ' Indian Birds,' vol. i., p. 345. May not this have led to the idea 

 of Raj Chandra Sandel about the bats doing much the same— and may they not do 

 so?— C. H. 



