Sceva.] 132 [March 1, 



made in supposing that the mongous could resist the effects 

 of the cobra's poison, were easily accounted for. 



The mongous, when attacking the cobra, would seize it 

 by the neck or throat, and would usually retain its hold for a 

 few seconds, at the same time sucking the blood from the 

 large vessels in its neck. 



Sometimes the snake and mongous would roll over to- 

 gether several times, and he had known people who were so 

 ignorant of the habits and powers of these animals, as to 

 suppose that during this time the weak jaws of the cobra 

 were holding the mongous, and on seeing the blood about 

 its head and mouth, would think that it came from wounds 

 on its own body, received from the fangs of the cobra. 



Another mistake was often made in supposing that the 

 blood frequently seen on the cobra's nose comes from a wound 

 inflicted there by the mongous. And assuming this to be 

 the case, the question was often asked how the mongous 

 could bite the cobra's nose without receiving in return 

 wounds from the cobra's fangs. On carefully observing the 

 movements of the cobra when snakes and other animals were 

 put into its cage, Mr. Sceva had found that it would strike 

 at them with its nose without opening its mouth, and in 

 many instances the cobra, by striking past them, would bruise 

 its nose on the side of the box, or against the wire netting in 

 front, causing it to bleed. This had occurred in every case 

 he had witnessed of its encounters with the mongous. 



Dr. Fayrer had made the mistake in one of his first ex- 

 periments, of thinking the mongous bitten when it was 

 struck by the nose of the cobra, and as the mongous did not 

 die, his report, published in the Indian Medical Gazette, stat- 

 ing that the animal was " bitten," was regarded by some as 

 conclusive evidence that the poison must have entered the 

 blood, but could produce no bad effect on it. Dr. Fayrer, 

 however, soon discovered that when animals were put into a 

 box with a cobra it was very difficult to tell — merely by 

 watching the snake's movements — whether they were bitten 



