892 Mil. A. LOVEIUDGE : KOTKS ON 



of venom full in the face, the resultant shock and pain was so 

 severe that she sank down on her knees and called for help. 



Tina cobra rarely bites, so the following case, whicli occurred at 

 Kilosa on 2G.v. 21, is of interest. A very intelligent native in 

 my employ was returning home one evening at dusk (0.30 p.m.) 

 when he stubbed his foot against what he thought was a stick 

 lying across the road. Next moment with a short liiss the cobra 

 launched at him and struck with botli fangs just above the left 

 ankle — his feet being bare of course. The snake withdrew 

 immediately and set off in the direction of the railway line ; he 

 ran after it, and the snal^e rose and spread its hood ; he looked 

 about for a stone, but his friends called to him to withdraw or lie 

 would get bitten again. He rejoined his companions, and very 

 soon began to feel sick, so he went to a native (Wanyimwezi) 

 " doctor," who first applied a ligature above the knee and then 

 made from nine to a dozen horizontal incisions above the site of 

 each fang-mark, i.e. between the bite and the heart, and into 

 these rubbed some " medicine." 



llamazan was taken home by his friends, and on arrival ate 

 some mealie-meal (usual evening food), but threw it all np. 

 Every time he attempted to eat the following day he was unable 

 to keep anytldng down, and lie said he felt successive Avaves of 

 venom come up from tlie leg as far as his throat and then recede 

 again. By the 28bh he was well enough to return to work, 



I met a weird old "snake charmer" in Mwanza Dist. who liad 

 in his possession a (58-inch cobra,, which he kept in a small bark 

 basket. The first time I saw him })laying with it, the snake slid 

 ■out when ho came to put it back in its box ; this happened two or 

 three times, and he slapped it on the head, when, quick as thought, 

 it apparently attempted to spit in his face (and as he was stoop- 

 ing over the box his face was not two feet from tliQ snake). I 

 was within four feet myself and remarked that no venom accom- 

 panied the open -jawed liiss, and ho replied with a laugli that the 

 venom was finished. He elected to become a camp follower for a 

 small consideration. A few da)'s after, when he was holding his 

 daily display — tying the cobra round his naked waist or wiapping 

 it two or three times round his neck and Hinging its head over 

 his. shoulder, so that it struck his back with a resounding whack, 

 — my curiosity was so piqued tha,t I bought it from, him and 

 chloroformed it. The poison teeth and parotids were intact ! 



Among tlie parasites of this snake were worms (Diaphano- 

 cepkalas simus Daul)eney 1923 and Poh/dd/jhis qnadriconiis 

 (Wedl.), also ticks. The tick {Aponomma exovnatmn) was taken 

 on a Nairobi cobra. 



' Naia nAiE Linn, ' > 



Blgr. Cat. Snakes, iii. 1896, p. 374. 

 Though tliis snake ranges from Arabia and the borders of the 

 Sahara northwa.rds to Zululand, neither Tornier nor Sternfeld 

 give any definite localities in Tanganyika Territory for the 



