HISTORICAL 19 



Father Mastrili, * speaking of the capture of the Sultan's 

 palace in Mindanao in 1636, says : 



What we saw when we came to take out this throne certainly surprised 

 us; for, before we reached the fire, two most venomous serpents came out 

 from the feet of the chair, terrifying the soldiers greatly. And truly, 

 nothing other than serpents and poison ought to g-uard the chair of the 

 great devil of Mindanao. 



Antonio Mozo f writes in 1763 : 



Among these [remedies] are the gall and fat of the python (called 

 saua and biting, in various dialects) and another similar species of ser- 

 pent, which reach an enormous size in the forests of the interior. The 

 gall is used both internally and externally by the natives, to cure chills 

 and pains in the stomach — to which they are especially liable from going 

 barefooted, and more or less naked, through mud and rain at all times ; 

 also for malignant fevers and any inflammation which causes them. 

 * * * The fat of these serpents is equally efficient for swellings or 

 pains in the muscles and sinews, especially those caused by chills and 

 exposure to weather. 



I do not know who made the earliest herpetological collection 

 in the Philippines, but as early as 1829 Eschscholtz in his Zoo- 

 logical Atlas describes a sea turtle, Chelonia oUvacea, from Manila 

 Bay, and a large lizard, Hydrosaurus pustulosiis, the species 

 commonly known as ibid or balubid in the Philippines. 



In 1835 Wiegmann } described a new snake, Flaps ccdligaster, 

 together with the lizards Peropus viutilatiis and Draco spilop- 

 terus; and Varanus salvator is recorded as occurring in the 

 Islands. This collection was made by F. J. F. Meyen. 



Schlegel H must have had some Philippine material at hand in 

 1837 since he described in that year Hemibungarus collaris, a 

 rare Philippine snake. 



Hugh Cuming began his collecting in the Philippine Islands 

 in 1836 and continued until 1840. He obtained about thirty- 

 seven species of snakes and about twenty-nine species of lizards. 

 From that time down to 1898 a number of important collections 

 were made by the following men or expeditions : Wilkes Explor- 

 ing expedition (1838-1842) ; expedition of the Astrolobe and 

 Zelee; Friederich Jagor (1859-1861); Karl Semper (1858- 

 1866) ; Adolph B. Meyer (1870-1873) ; A. Everett, John White- 



* Letter from Father Marcelo Francisco Mastrili to Father -Juan de 

 Zalazar, translated in Blair and Robertson, op. cit. 27 (1905) 2G9. 



t Noticia histcirico natural, translated by Blair and Robertson, op. cit. 

 48 (1907) 120. 



I Nova Acta Acad. Leop.-Carol (1835) 2.53, pi. 25, fig 2. 



llPhys. Serp. 2 (1837). 



