86 THE VlCTORIAJf NATURALIST. 



cat's flesh to the bone while still alive, but it showed not the slightest 

 sign that it felt it. Loss oi' power in the hind quarters also occurs. 



I have never yet been able to find anything to cure the injected 

 poison. 1 have been informed by a gentleman, whose word I could 

 depend on, that aboriginals will, upon being bitten, if water be near, 

 go and submerge as much of their bodies as possible, and that they 

 not unfrequently recover, although sometimes very ill. There is also 

 living near me a person who has a little Skye-terrier dog that will 

 destroy snakes although it gets thrashed for it, but always after a 

 combat with a reptile it makes off to the nearest water, and nothing 

 will induce it to come out. He also says he has observed the dog 

 show signs of illness by being sick and losing all appetite. The dog 

 will remain in the water fur over a day sometimes after the snake 

 has been s.3en to bite it. The only way I can account for the water 

 having a beneficial effect is that the coldness deadens to a certain 

 extent the altsorbents, so that the poison is not so quickly absorbed 

 and not in such large quantities, the heart also does not pulsate 

 nearly so fast, which enables the system at length to overcome the 

 virus. 



It is a p(jpular belief that the Iguana, upon being bitten by a 

 snake, immediately eats some herbs and recovers, but this, I believe, 

 to be wrong. I dt)ubt if the fangs of a snake can penetrate the 

 hard skin of the Iguana., and if they could it being cold blooded the 

 venom would take no effect. 



CmtSklQmm® of WiQtQtimm l^ammii* 



VERTEBRATA : Reptilia. 



By D. Le Souef, Assistant Director of Zoological Society of 



Victoria. 



Orjjer— OPHIDIA. 



A. Innocuous Colubrine Snakes. 



Family — Typhlopid^. 



Genus. Species. Common Name. 



Typhlops (Schndr.) Preissd (Schndr.) Preiss's Blind Snake. 

 ^'' bicolor (Schmdt.) Schmidt's ,, 



