40 MR. J. VERREATJX ON CERTAIN TOTJRACOES. [Jail. 17, 



adventures of the early fur-traders on the Pacific slopes of the Rocky 

 Mountains. Indeed, for some time after settlers came to that part 

 of the country, so troublesome were the Snakes that they would even 

 enter the houses and get under the beds. All efforts to lessen their 

 numbers proved futile until Pigs became common in that part of the 

 country. These Pigs were turned loose in the "oak-scrub" to feed 

 on the acorns of the Quercvs garryana, and generally to root about. 

 From that day the reign of the Rattlesnake was on the wane ; and 

 now so few are they in this locality that though I stayed there for 

 about a fortnight, continually roaming about the country on foot on 

 botanical excursions, for a radius of six or seven miles, I do not 

 remember even seeing one. It was not until I got beyond the range 

 of the Pigs that they again began to be common. Between the Pigs 

 and the Snakes there seems to be a natural antipathy. The moment 

 a Pig sees a Snake it rushes upon it, grunting loudly ; and before the 

 Serpent can strike, it plants its foot on the Snake's head, crushing it, 

 and then devours it. A Snake makes off immediately on the approach 

 of a Pig ; and so well do the Indians know of this antipathy, that I 

 have often seen the women come to the settlers, begging for a piece 

 of fresh Pig's skin to wrap around their ankles when gathering berries 

 in the bush as a preventative against being bit by Rattlesnakes. This 

 was in Southern Oregon, in Rogue-River valley ; but the same 

 belief (for which I doubt not there exists some good foundation in 

 experience) is very widely spread. The Pig, it is said, is proof 

 against the poison of the Rattlesnake. This 1 cannot certify as true, 

 as I never had an opportunity of putting the assertion to the test. 

 It may be, however, that the thick layer of fat in the Pig prevents 

 the watery poison from reaching the more vital parts and so entering 

 the larger blood-vessels." 



M. Jules Verreaux, C.M.Z.S., made the following remarks on the 

 colouring-matter of the wing-feathers of certain Touracoes, in reference 

 to a discussion which had taken place at the previous Meeting : — 



" Comme il a etc question, dans la derniere seance de la Societc, d'un 

 fait assez interessant sur le coloration des plumes de l'aile du genre 

 Corythaix, permettez-moi que je viens vous soumettre quelques-unes 

 des observations qu'il m'a cte permises de faire durant mes longs 

 voyages dans le sud de l'Afrique doja en 1818, lorsque j'accom- 

 pagnais au Cap de Bonne-Esperance feu mon oncle Delalande. J'ob- 

 servais clans le canton nomme Knysna un grand nombre du Corythaix 

 albocristuta de Strickland, et je remarquai que pendant les pluies 

 diluviennes qui durerent plusieurs jours, ces oiseaux qui habitent 

 d'ordinaire la sommite des grands arbres, descendaient sur les branches 

 basses, et cherchaient dans les lieux les plus touffus un refuge contre 

 l'intensite de la pluie, mais je remarquais aussi qu'a ce moment leur 

 plumage etait tellement imbibe d'eau qu'ils ne pouvaient voler. Etant 

 parvenu, apres bien de la ruse, a m'emparer d'un sujet que j'avais 

 saisi par l'aile, et qui m'echappa, quelle fut ma surprise de voir 

 rinterieur de ma main coloree en rouge connne du sang, mais qui 

 disparut aussitot le lavage. Ce fait m'ayant paru des plus curieux, 



