478 SNAKES OF CEYLON. 



I have had three or four, to face my captive cobras, much less 

 attack them. Mr. Stevens in Assam told me he once witnessed 

 an encounter between a mongoose and a cobra. The snake 

 managed to -evade the carnivore in the tall grass, and was 

 killed by Mr. Stevens. An interesting incident was reported 

 to me by Mr. Reid, showing that some animals have an instinc- 

 tive dread ot the cobra, or, perhaps, snakes in general. A herd 

 of buffaloes that were standing, feeding out of a row of 

 " nands," suddenly became very excited and broke loose, 

 stamping and snorting, and to all appearances were terrified. 

 On investigation , a cobra was found close by, which was killed, 

 one old cow when she saw it rushed upon its body and 

 trampled it. This, by the way, is the method by which deer 

 and pigs are reported to attack and destroy snakes. Gunther 

 says the jungle fowl kills cobras, and this seems probable, as 

 domestic fowls are known to kill and eat them ; an event of 

 this kind happened before the eyes of the late Mr. P. W. 

 MacKinnon in Mussoorie, his fowl killing and then swallowing 

 the snake with no ill-effects. Both Evans and Craddock 

 have reported instances of the cobra being victimized by the 

 king cobra • (JV. bungarus). Mr. Gleadow once wrote to me 

 that he saw a large monitor lizard (Varanus, spec.) running 

 off with a live snake, 3 or 4 feet long, in his jaws, which, when 

 released, was shot and proved to be a cobra. 



Freaks. — In the Indian Museum there is a double-headed 

 cobra, an example of that rare condition, anterior dichotomy. 



Poison .—(a) TheGland : This organ, which is really a salivary 

 gland, and the analogue of the parotid gland in mammals, 

 including man, consists of a body and a neck. The body is 

 much the shape and size of an almond kernel, and consists of 

 (1) a thick fibrous capsule or jacket, (2) the glandular or 

 poison secreting substance proper, and (3) a duct running 

 centrally in the long axis of the gland. The capsule gives off 

 numerous fibrous septa, which pass into the glandular sub- 

 stance and divide it into numerous chambers or pockets 

 (the poison lakes of Bobeau). Each pocket is lined with 

 poison secreting cells, and carries in its walls blood 

 Vessels, which convey the blood which the poison cells depend 



