2092 The Zoologist— A i-kil, 1870. 



My guide told me that the female alligator was peihaps hid in the 

 trench or in some of the wallowing holes, of which there were several 

 in the vicinity of the nest. Only having a switch with me on this 

 occasion, 1 did not attempt to examine the nest more closely than from 

 the outside of tlie trench, as a crack on the legs from the tail of a ten- 

 foot alligator would be no joke. 



I noticed on most of the savannahs in this immediate neighbourhood, 

 wherever some water was left, several of the conical-mound nesls of 

 the alligators. In the shape of the nests and the surrounding trench 

 they seem to agree with their Cingalese cousins. 



I only had a chance of a hurried gallop through a portion of the 

 Slate of Florida: from what 1 saw it must be a grand field for a 

 naturalist who can stand a good deal of roughing. 



H. W. Feilden. 



Snake Poison. 



The following letter, dated Januar}' 12, addressed to a Madras 

 paper, by Mr. John Shorlt, of Vepery, is interesting at a time when 

 much attention is being given to the subject of snake-bites: — 



On Saturday, January 8, about 12 o'clock, a Jogce, named 

 Goorooven, who was in the habit of bringing me cobras, brought a 

 friend with him, who had a fresh vigorous cobra, confined in a small 

 earthen chatty, which I asked to see.' Goorooven look out the snake, 

 and I examined its mouth to see that the fangs were not tampered 

 with, and finding that they were all riglit I directed him to put it np, 

 for which purpose he took it out into the compound, and returned 

 into the house. Not long after, one of my servants reported that the 

 man was bilten. 1 ran out, and saw the man standing on the steps of 

 my house with his left arm hanging and blood flowing from two points 

 on the index finger. I took off my eye-glass, cut the cord, and lied it 

 tightly around the base of the wounded finger, and another around the 

 wrist, and with the penknife from my pocket opened the two points 

 on the man's finger to the extent of about a quarter of an inch each ; 

 a])plied my mouth to the wounds successively, and sucked them 

 freely, drawing out mouthfnls of blood at each time, which 1 spat out. 

 Jn the n)eantinie, my servant having brought a basin of water, the 

 wounds were well washed, and I had liquor potash applied to ihem. 

 I gave the man a large dose of brandy and yjotash, and ordered my 

 carriage. Having lately shifted into wy present house, all my things 



