330 JO URNAL, BOMBA Y NA TUBAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, X. 



wounding it on the same shoulder. It then fell, and as it was rising up, it was 

 again fired upon and this time the animal was struck upon the forehead and 

 settled. Subsequently a regular volley was discharged at the disabled animal 

 by the Railway staff, so that it is not possible to say who dealt the fatal 

 blow." 



The head is in my possession, and the measurements are 30" from base to 

 tip outside the curve, 16" round the base of the horn. 



S. BANKS, Brigade-Surgn.-Lieut.-GoL 



Kamptee, C.P., November, 1895. 



No. IV.— EED ANTS AS SMELLING SALTS, 



Looking through a back number of the journal, I see E. H. A. records the 

 jungle people in the Canara District eating red ants ! (Vol. IV, p. 153), 



The Tamil coolies here use them as Smelling Salts ! I don't know whether 

 the practice is common in India ; anyhow it may be worth noting. The 

 •modus operandi is to go up to a nest in a bush, seize it with both hands, rub 

 ants and nest together violently between the palms and then take a few good 

 long sniffs of the strong ammonia-like fumes which rise from the mass of 

 crushed and bruised insects. 



I am told this instantly relieves a severe cold in the head if the sufferer has 

 no objection to a few dozen of the more active ants burying- their mandibles 

 in various parts of his person while he is sniffing at the remains of their 

 community ! 



I should object to this myself, so I cannot speak with authority as to the 

 efficacy of the remedy. 



A. L. BUTLEK. 



CocOAWATTB, Ceylon, Decemher, 1895, 



No. v.— THE FOOD OF THE MUSK-EAT. 

 Three or four times lately I have been disturbed at night by the cries of a 

 bull-frog. I concluded that a snake was making a late supper, and, as I do 

 not care about such company so close to the bungalow, I got up and, armed 

 with a stick and a lantern, proceeded to hunt for it. On each occasion, how- 

 ever, it turned out to be a musk-rat, and not a snake, that had caught the frog, 

 and I was much surprised to see the determined and savage way in which the 

 attack was made. In one case I separated the frog and its assailant with a 

 stick, but the moment the stick was withdrawn the latter actually ran over 

 my feet in its eagerness to catch the frog again and, having caught it, proceed- 

 ed to punish it frightfully, biting it about the head and back. I again sepa- 

 rated them, and this time the frog managed to hide itself ; and, when I returned 

 to bed some minutes later,! left the rat still quartering the ground in the hopes 

 of finding the frog again. On the other occasion, when they were not sepa- 

 rated, the musk-rat, after some time, apparently succeeded in killing its victim 



