652 
Correspondence. 
recent observers. The late Mr. Belt describes a serpent chasing 
a lizard among the branches of a tree, and Dr. Livingstone 
gives an instance of an African serpent emerging from its hole, 
biting with fatal effedt a man who was passing, and then re- 
turning to its hiding-place. Is anyone among your readers able 
to state whether wild animals, too large to become the prey of 
poisonous snakes, are ever bitten and destroyed by them ? Has 
anyone ever found in the woods of India, of the Malayan 
Islands, or of Africa, any dead carnivore, ape, antelope, &c., 
whose death could be plainly traced to serpent-bite ? That do- 
mestic animals thus perish, especially dogs, is a well-known 
fadl. — I am, &c., 
Verifier. 
