82 BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIRTY, 
applied to various spevious of lizards, known to be innocuous, the cobra de morte 
is now, whatever it once was, a name and nothing more.” Dr. Fairbank also in 
his “ Bombay Reptiles,” writes of the Ornate Ghorpad as follows :—“ It inhabits 
Sind and Cuteh, and there it is called chandengo, and its bite 
No lizard has a poison sac or fangs, The saliva may become 
lizard gets much vexed as that of a wharf rat does. Some lizards spring fiercely 
and bite severely, and some snakes that are not venomous do the same, 
persons bitten by such reptiles have died, not from poison, but because 
themselves poisoned.’? 
The extract from Dr. Shortt? 
is thought poisonous. 
an irritant when the 
and many 
they believed 
s note which I quoted in my paper on the bis-cobra, 
is another good instance in point. There was a man bitten bya chameleon. As there 
is only one species of chameleon in India there can be little, if any, doubt as to 
the identity of the lizard. Few willbe bold enough to assert that the chameleon 
is a venomous reptile. But the man believed it was, and his belief remained 
unshaken. Despite all Dr. Shortt’s assurances, the symptoms of fright were 
alarming enough. He was “almost breathless, streaming with cold perspiration, 
locking pale, skin cold, pulse small,” &c. In this case the poor man did not 
die. Why ?—Because he had faith in the doctor’s remedies, and was comforted by 
brandy and water. A bread or sugar-pill would probably have had the same effect. 
But what might have been the fate of that man without the doctor and his 
brandy and water?—He would have gone to his house and his friends and 
relations would have crowded round him, shrieking and wailing, telling him it was 
all up with him, till the poor wretch would have been seized with convulsions 
anddied. I have myself seen a woman as near death as possible under very 
similar circumstances. She was working quietly in the garden. All of a sudden 
she gave a shriek, and muttering something incoherently about a snake, 
off into violent convulsions. The doctor was sent for, and he succeeded w 
difficulty, and after some hours, in getting her round. 
was a harmless one, and had not even scratched her! She admitted afterwards 
that she had not been touched by the snake. But she had been told—and of 
course believed—that if a certain snake’s shadow fell on her, she would certainly 
die. The shadow of a snake did fall on her, and she would in all human proba- 
bility have died had skilled medical aid not been at hand, 
Thana District, Jan. 10. 
went 
ith some 
The snake was killed, It 
G W:. VIDAL, 
THE NEAREST ALLIES OF THE HORSH. 
By Vurerimnary Surcron J. HH, Srrzt, A.V.D. 
(Read at the Society’s Meeting held on 6th February, 1888.) 
In the whole range of Natural History there is no more compact 
nor isolated group than that of the EHquide, which, ther 
sents itself as a neat subject for special study. Wea 
enquiry with great advantages, in that we 
efore, pre- 
pproach this 
are very familiar with 
oe 
we 
