ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



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;i: Miiimal after tin 



sides somewhere in your city, no doubt he can 

 give you some valuable information about that 

 sjJuttering demon. The universal report of its 

 venomous saliva is that it instantly produces 

 total blindness when it strikes the eyes of the 

 victim. In some cases the eyes are utterly de- 

 stroyed, but in others the blindness is only 

 temporary, lasting twentv-four to forty-eight 

 liours, during which time the victim suffers 

 great pain. 



"The only efficient treatment for it that I 

 liave ever heard of is fresh warm milk. 



"I could recount many interesting stories 

 tiiat I have heard of this monster and a few 

 of my own experience. It is the only snake in 

 this country that I ran from, and the only one 

 that I know of that will attack without the- 

 slightest provocation. A dozen times, perhaps, 

 I have come within a close shave of these 

 fiends when they showed fight, and on one oc- 

 casion one of them pursued me fifty yards or 

 more. They grow to be at least eight or nine 

 feet long and move with considerable speed. 

 When provoked, or in the act of attacking, they 

 spread the neck after the manner of the cobra 

 de capello and the Egyptian asp, but do not 

 appear to spread the head as the viper does. 

 When the snake poses to spit, it coils, rears its 

 head and more than half of the body straight 

 up in the air. and assumes the form of an old- 

 fashioned candle-stick, only that it turns the 

 head to a horizontal position. 



"I have never examined one of tliem minute- 

 ly, but I am told that it has two small openings 

 resembling nostrils, one on each side of the head. 



from which are ejected the sprays of liquid 

 poison, and I am surprised to learn that he can 

 force the spray as far as eight feet, but if I 

 ever learn hy experience it will be accidental, 

 for I habitually give this villain the right of 

 way and I go in the other direction." 



CHANGES IN PELAGE OF SAMBAR 

 DEER. 



IT IS of particular interest to note the thor- 

 ough acclimatization of the two fine species 

 of Sambar deer exhibited for some years 

 in the Park. The species represented are the 

 Indian Sambar Deer, Cervus unicolor and the 

 Alalayan or Horse-Tailed Sambar Deer, C. 

 equinus. Both are large, showy animals, pro- 

 lific breeders and little troubled with the gas- 

 tro-enteric diseases common among cervines. 

 The following notes may be of interest to the 

 reader who is studying the possibilities of stock- 

 ing game preserves, or breeding deer for sale 

 or study. 



Botii C. unicolor and equinus are in the large 

 deer class. An adult male of either species will 

 weigh five hundred and fifty pounds. In tem- 

 perament both species are more tractable than 

 either the wapiti or red deer, and they closely 

 rival the latter in size and appearance. The 

 bucks of both species are bold and dangerous 

 during the breeding season, but the does of the 

 Sambar deer are usually uniformly docile, even 

 when caring for tlieir young. In build botli 

 species are quite similar. Tlie body is stout 

 and vertically broad, with rather short, power- 



