Chai>. IX.] 



SNAKES. 



295 



one half have as yet been scientifically identified 1 ; 

 but so cautiously do serpents make their appearance, 

 that the surprise of persons long resident is invariably 

 expressed at the rarity with which they are to be seen ; 

 and from my own journeys through the jungle, often of 

 from two to five hundred miles, I have frequently re- 

 turned without observing a single snake. Mr. Bennett, 

 who resided much in the south-east of the island, ascribes 

 the rarity of serpents in the jungle to the abundance 

 of the wild peafowl, whose partiality to young snakes 

 renders them the chief destroyers of these reptiles. It 

 is likely, too, that they are killed by the jungle-cocks ; 

 for they are frequently eaten by the common barn-door 

 fowl in Ceylon. This is rendered the more probable by 

 the fact, that in those districts where the extension of 

 cultivation, and the visits of sportsmen, have reduced the 

 numbers of the jungle-cocks and pea-fowl, snakes have 

 perceptibly increased. The deer also are enemies of the 

 snakes, and the natives who have had opportunities of 

 watching their encounters assert that they have seen 

 deer rush upon a serpent and crush it by leaping on it 

 with all its four feet. 



As to the venomous powers of snakes, Dr. Davy, whose 



1 This is not likely to be true : 

 in a very large collection of snakes 

 made in Ceylon by Mr. C. E. 

 Butler, and recently examined by 

 Dr. Guntner, of the British Museum, 

 only a single specimen proved to be 

 new. 



There is, however, one venomous 

 snake, of the existence of which 

 I am assured by a native corres- 

 pondent in Ceylon, no mention has 

 yet been made by European natu- 

 ralists. It is called Mapila by the 

 Singhalese ; it is described to me 



u 



as being about four feet in length, 

 of the diameter of the little finger, 

 and of a uniform dark brown 

 colour. It is said to be often seen 

 in company with another snake 

 called in Singhalese Lay Medilla, 

 a name which implies its deep red 

 hue. The latter is believed to be 

 venomous. It would be well if 

 some collector in Ceylon would 

 send home for examination the 

 species which respectively bear 

 these names. 



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