Thb Zoologist— October, 1869. 1873 



follows, in reply to the last paragraph of my letter of the 19th No- 

 vember last, which appeared in the 'Madras Times': — ' G. Vans 

 Agnew, Esq., at present officiating collector at Tanjore, kindly sent 

 me a snake-stone to lest, and through one of my assistants I obtained 

 from Mr. Garde, of the Conservator of Forest Department, a piece of 

 wood reputed to be a specific for the bite of the cobra ; and the late 

 Dr. J. W. Sherman told me, a long time ago, that indigo was in great 

 repute as a snake remedy, and was generally used in America as a 

 cure for the bite of the rattlesnake: 1 accordingly procured some. 

 To test these, I arranged and obtained from the country, through the 

 assistance of kind friends, some six full-grown cobras, the largest of 

 which was five feet, and the smallest four feet two inches in length : 

 these reptiles were quite fresh and vigorous, and I numbered them 

 severally one to six. I also got together several Pariah dogs and 

 chickens, and at 12 noon on Monday the lllh inst., in the presence of 

 H. Cornish, Esq., T. Pritchard, Esq., Dr. H. E. Busteed, and Mr. 

 L. W. Lincoln (my assistant), besides one or two other gentlemen and 

 natives, comprising my own servants and those of some of my neigh- 

 bours, the following experiments were conducted : — 



" 1. Cobra Nos. 1 and 2 were made to iight; and I was more suc- 

 cessful on this occasion, as the snakes, on being brought together and 

 teazed, readily and of their own accord attacked each other by grasp- 

 ing with open mouths, and seizing each other mouth to mouth re- 

 peatedly, the wounds so inflicted drawing blood : they also bit one 

 another in other parts. 



" 2. No. 2 cobra was now seized, and made to bite a chicken to ob- 

 serve effect ; the chicken was dead in thirty seconds, whilst no harm 

 was done to the cobras themselves. Both these snakes were then 

 laid aside. 



" No. 3 was next turned out, and was made to bite the leg of a full- 

 grown powerful Pariah dog (A), and the snake-stone was immediately 

 applied to the wound. At first there appeared some difficulty in 

 getting the stone to adhere, but subsequently it held on ; notwith- 

 standing which, the dog was dead in two hours and ten minutes. 



" 4. The same cobra (No. 3) was made to bite immediately a white 

 dog (B) ; and although the snake grasped the leg of the dog no distinct 

 wound was perceptible, nor was there any effect noticed. 



" 5. No. 3 was now laid aside and cobra No. 4 was turned out, and 

 made to bite a full-grown dog (C) : the snake-stone was applied and 

 fully adhered to the wound, and continued to do so till the dog died. 



SECOND SERIES — VOL. IV. 3 jj 



