The Zoologist — July, 1874. 4079 



edition of his ' Ornithological Rambles,' that an immature Iceland gull was 

 shot in January, 1859, near Pagham : it is now in the Chichester Museum. 

 —Arthur John Clark-Kennedy; Little Glemham Rectory, Wickham Market, 

 Suffolk, May 20, 1874. 



The Bite of a Viper.— To be bitten by a viper in our country is such a 

 comparatively rare occurrence that perhaps it may not be uninteresting to 

 your readers to hear of a really authentic case which occurred quite recently 

 in the immediate neighbourhood of London, On Sunday, May 2, a young 

 man, F. G., aged twenty-eight, was lying on the grass in Epping Forest, 

 between Loughton and Buckhurst Hill, and in stretching out his arm 

 backwards he unintentionally brought his hand down upon a snake, which 

 immediately bit him upon the first joint of the right fore finger. He at 

 once killed the animal, his description of which will only answer to that of 

 a viper, and went in search of a medical man, who appHed nitrate of silver 

 freely to the sore and bound a bandage tightly round the fore arm. Some 

 hours afterwards he was brought to University College Hospital, when he 

 came under my observation, and gave the following account of his expe- 

 riences. The first thing he noticed was that there were two minute wounds 

 on his finger, which were bleeding freely. Very soon the part began to swell 

 and two blisters formed round the wound ; at the same time he felt faint 

 and unwell, and was very sick. He vomited in all four times, once within 

 ten minutes of the accident, and the last time four and a half hours after- 

 wards. Pain and redness rapidly extended up the arm and increased for 

 some hours, the sense of discomfort continuing; but by next day the pain 

 and uneasiness had disappeared, and though the swelling remained for some 

 time, it also gradually subsided. In the course of a few days extensive 

 bruising came out over the whole limb ; the blisters on the finger were 

 pricked once or twice, and ultimately a rather deep ulcer formed at the 

 wounded part, which has not yet (June 4th) completely healed. It is 

 possible that the swelling and subsequent bruising may have been partly 

 owing to the ligature, which seems to have been applied somewhat heroically 

 to the fore arm. In conclusion, it may be advisable to remind your readers 

 that, in the case of an injury from the tooth of an adder, or any animal 

 whose bite is supposed to be venomous, the best course to pursue is im- 

 mediately,— even before killing the animal in question,— to suck the wound, 

 of course remembering not to swallow the material so obtained. The danger 

 from the contact of the poison with the mucous membrane of the mouth, 

 unless there be a raw surface there, is extremely shght, and the chance of 

 preventing mischief in this way is by far greater than from the most 

 extensive application of any caustic with which we are acquainted.— E/c/tmau 

 J. Godlee. 



