160 INDIAN SNAKE POISONS, 



BuDgarus fasciatus, and the Ophiophagus elaps, and 

 rewards should only he given for these. The above 

 arrangement is, of course, one of probability only, as 

 statistics throw little or no light on the matter. 



Great attention should be paid to the conservancy of 

 small towns and villages. In large towns public opinion 

 is already awake to the injury inflicted by jungle being 

 allowed to grow up around dwellings; but in villages, 

 naturally, but little attention is given to a detail of this 

 kind. A few holes stopped, and a few bushes cut down 

 in every village, would diminish immensely the hiding- 

 places of these pests, and exactly at the spots where 

 they do most harm. 



That municipalities have in many cases undertaken to 

 give rewards for the destruction of snakes is a sign of 

 great hopefulness. 



The most stringent system that has yet been devised 

 to exterminate pests is undoubtedly that of requiring 

 the inhabitants of an infested district either to present 

 a certain number of the proscribed animals each year 

 or to pay a sum instead, the amount thus obtained being 

 devoted to the purposes of extermination. It is difficult 

 to see how any animal, however prolific, could withstand 

 a persecution of this kind. But, of course, a scheme 

 like this presupposes that the inhabitants should clearly 

 see that it is their real advantage that is being con- 

 sulted, and that they have no reluctance to destroy their 

 foes. 



