1894.] Dr. Anthony Robinson. 779 
* Yet I believe it is not the flesh of the Gully Asp that is 
pernicious for two reasons. First, because the negroes at 
Egyp(t) Plantation often eat them, and secondly, I cannot 
think that any of the fleshy part could be dissolved in the 
cold stomach of the alligator in so short a space of time as 
four hours, besides the hard scales of the Gully Asp’s skin 
would hinder the digestion not a little. What part of this 
animal is poisonous? perhaps the viscera, but which? This 
might be known by giving some creature, as a dog or cat, the 
different parts of the animal to eat at separate times.” 
Gosse does not admit that this lizard has any injurious 
properties. The above anecdote about the alligator (crocodile 
rather) though interesting, is hardly conclusive by itself. 
Later, Dr. Robinson writes : 
“ May the 25th, 1760. I was at St. Tooley's, where the over- 
seer, Mr. Watson inform'd me that the Gully Asps about that 
estate were very fierce and would seize a man, and that their 
bite, he assur'd me, was certainly venomous. Memorandum 
to inquire more strictly into this matter.” Later he writes: 
“ A gentleman in St. Elizabeth's informs me that in the 
niountains there they have a Gully Asp entirely black, which 
is said to be poisonous, and that if it bite either man or beast 
they certainly die. He gave me an instance of one biting a 
girl on the toe (I think), who expir'd a few hours after receiv- 
ing it. . . . However, this gentleman and almost all other | 
considerable persons in this parish and the next seem to look 
upon the Great Morass Gully Asp, which I think it may prop- 
erly be call’d, as an inoffensive creature; the above-quoted 
person tells a story of a person who while he slept in the 
morass one night, laid hold of his cap and endeavour'd to pull 
it off. The gentleman observing this after the first tug, lay 
close, and quite mistaking it for a negro, resolving to wateh 
him; and the next pull the Gully Asp gave he laid fast hold 
of him, but perceiving his error throw him backwards some 
yards. He says he has often fed them with offal, when he has 
been eating, and suffer'd them to run over his legs." 
5. The following observations on a Ccelenterate which I will 
not pretend to determine, seem to have a bearing on some 
quite recently published researches. 
