Insects. 8773 



match for his fierce and watchful antagonist, and now, no longer exhibiting a head 

 erect and defiant eye, unfolded his coils and ignominiously slunk away. Instantly the 

 mongoose was on his retreating foe, and, burying his teeth in his brain, at once ended 

 the contest. The mongoose now set to work to devour his victim, and in a few minutes 

 had eaten the head and two or three inches of the body, including the venom so 

 dreaded by all. We should have mentioned before, that previous to this encounter the 

 snake had struck a fowl which died within half an hour of the infliction of the bite, 

 showing beyond doubt its capability of inflicting a deadly wound. After the mongoose 

 had satisfied his appetite we proceeded to examine with a pocket lens the wounds that 

 he had received from the cobra, and on washing away the blood from one of these 

 places the lens disclosed the broken fang of the cobra deeply imbedded in the head of 

 the mongoose. To discover whether there was any truth in the assertion that the mon- 

 goose owes its impunity from the bite of the most venomous of serpents to its know- 

 ledge of a herb which is an antidote to the poison, or whether on the other hand a 

 prophylactic exists in the blood of this extraordinary animal, rendering it innocuous to 

 the bite of a reptile fatal to all other animals, we have had the mongoose confined ever 

 since (now four days ago), and it is now as healthy and lively as ever; but should it 

 in the course of a fortnight show the slightest indisposition, we, in the cause of truth, 

 will not fail to inform you. We consider, therefore, that there no longer exists a doubt 

 that in the blood of the mongoose there is a prophylactic, and that the idea that it de- 

 rives its impunity from a herb is one of many popular errors. We beg to subscribe 

 ourselves as witnesses to the above narrated encounter between a mongoose and a 

 cobra, and remain, dear Sir, yours truly, K. Macaulay, Major 23rd Eegiment Light 

 Infantry ; C. J. Combe, Captain ditto ; H. G. Symons, Lieutenant ditto. — Trichino- 

 poly, July 15th." — Madras Times. 



Rattle of the Rattlesnake. — In a foetal specimen examined the scales cease towards 

 the end of the tail, and the unsealed portion is covered by thickened cuticle, the rudi- 

 ment of a rattle, which must fall off. As the animal grows the last three vertebrae are 

 covered with hardened cuticle arranged in ridges; as growth continues this covering 

 is displaced, a new layer forming underneath it, and the old slipped backward over 

 one ridge in a manner not well determined ; this is in turn displaced by a new layer 

 beneath, pushed backward over a single ridge, and so on indefinitely. An interesting 

 point yet to be settled is whether the cuticular caudal rings are set free at the time of 

 moulting. That there is no definite relatiou between the age of the animal and the 

 number of rattles, was shown by specimens over six feet long having only twor attles, 

 and others of eighteen inches with six or seven. — From i Proceedings of Boston Society 

 of Natural History,' Vol. viii. p. 121. ^ 



Description of the Larva of Vanessa Urticce. — The eggs are laid in the months of 

 May and June, on the leaves of Urtica dioica and U. urens (stinging nettles), in 

 batches of sixty or eighty, and sometimes a much larger number ; the females which 

 perform this duty having survived the winter. In a period, varying according to the 

 temperature, of about fourteen days, the young larvae emerge, and, remaining in com- 

 pany, spin together the leaves of the food-plant ; as they consume the leaves the limits 

 of their dwelling is extended, and they continue to live in company until fully half- 

 growu ; they then separate, and each feeds alone. When full-fed they rest in nearly 



