MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 789 



large one in the month of July and about " 30 eggs came out when he cut 

 her open." This is no doubt an overestimate of the number, but the head 

 which he sent me in confirmation of his story is considerably larger than the 

 head of my female which laid 13 eggs.* 



With regard to the poison of this snake, it is not considered by the 

 country people, in those localities where it is well known, as being fatal to 

 human life, and the observations and experiments which L have been making 

 during the past year with specimens in captivity fully bear out this 

 statement. 



MALCOLM SMITH, m.r.c.s., l.r.c.p. 

 Bangkok, January \st, 1915. 



No. XVIII.— BULL FROG AND RAT-SNAKE. 



A large bull-frog (Eana tigrina) captured in the act of swallowing a 

 young rat-snake {Zaocys onucosus) has recently been presented to the 

 Madras Museum from Kayenkulam in Travancore. The frog has succeeded 

 in swallowing nearly three-quarters of the snake which has a total length 

 of 34^ inches. There appears to be no reason to doubt the statement of 

 the donor who captured the two animals in the exact condition in which 

 they now exist. 



B. SUNDARA RAJ, 

 Zoological Assistant, Madras Museum. 

 Madras, January 1915. 



No. XIX.— " FISHING WITHOUT A FISH HOOK." 



Several of the small mountain torrents and large rivers in Sikkim are 

 full of fish at certain seasons of the year, generally in March, April, May, 

 September and October ; and during these months, specially during March, 

 April and May, and late in February, when the water is clear, one often 

 sees the young Paharia and the Lepcha, too, catching fish and getting a fair 

 bag in a very primitive way ; no hook is used, only horse hair slip knots or 

 nooses one on either side of the bait which always consists of a couple 

 of grubs tied star wise in the centre. These grubs or worms are got from 

 underneath the bark of the silk cotton tree, the " Simal", and are evidently 

 the young of some borer who is partial to the Bombax. These soft 

 grubs have black heads, and yellow and white bodies ; and when adroitly 

 tied form a very attractive looking bait ravenously eaten by a certain class 

 of fish, the Snow Carp for instance, also a large fish weighing sometimes up 

 to 8 lbs. called in Paharia " Asia ". The Carp is generally got in small 

 mountain torrents, and the " Asia " in bigger rivers, like the Teesta in 

 Sikkim and the Amachu in Bhutan, or Torsa in the Dooars. Last year whila 

 camping on the Amachu in Bhutan, in February, I saw two Paharias, fishing 

 with Jointed bamboo rods, cotton lines, and horse hair nooses ; the rods had 

 three joints, the lines were ordinary sowing cotton four ply neatly twisted 

 and fairly strong. At the end of the line was a foot of horse hair with two 

 circular nooses, the bait being in the centre of the two. Six inches below 

 the bait were several strands of horse hair, all the hair being white, and to 

 one strand was fastened a small smooth pebble picked up in the stream. 

 While casting the line, this pebble often came off as it was not a permanent 



* This female has since died. She measured exactly 800 mm- in total length. 



