02 
THE THANATOPHIDIA OF INDIA. 
before ; neither lie nor the passers-by knew the animal nor had 
ever seen one before. When the brandy arrived, an hour or 
more after the accident, the man was still almost senseless. 
Weak brandy and water was poured down his throat; he gra¬ 
dually improved; but although bitten between 11 a.m. and 
noon, it was about 5 p.m. before he could walk even with 
assistance; as soon as he was able to speak he complained of 
great pain in the abdomen. 1 ordered him to be rubbed, and 
refused to allow him to be removed from where he lay. In the 
evening he was taken between two men to a mosque ; the next 
evening he came to the camp, recovered, but weak ; he said he 
felt pain in the hand first; then it extended up the arm to 
the other arm; that he became giddj T ; the pain extended to his 
legs and body-; that he was insensible during the whole time 
the native practitioner was operating on him; that he had a 
burning pain in his abdomen on recovery from insensibility, 
and that this pain continued all night; that he did not recover 
until the next morning, and that he then (evening) felt weak 
from the effects of the illness; he was fasting when bitten. While 
the animal was tied up at my tent, a man who came to see it 
recognised it as like one he had killed some short time before; 
he told one of my men, an intelligent man, that he received 
information from a cowherd, that the death of a cow of his was 
due to the saliva of one of these animals having been swallowed 
with grass. The owner of the cow went to see the animal, saw 
it, killed it, and threw it into a khaul, but his dog attacked the 
animal, got bitten, and died the next day. This case is of use 
as corroborating the one more especially referred to ; the cause 
of the death of the cow may be open to doubt, but the man 
asserts the dog was unmistakably bitten, became ill soon after, 
and died next day at its owner’s house. The conclusions I draw 
from the above are— -firstly, that the man Magoonally was really 
bitten by a certain quadrumanous animal in the presence of an 
inspector, myself, and a number of coolies and native travellers ; 
secondly, that serious effects followed immediately after the bite, 
such effects indicating some powerful interference with the 
functions of the nervous system; thirdly, that no cause other 
than the bite can be indicated as having produced the effect 
referred to, while the rapidity with which the effects were pro¬ 
duced, their duration and nature, were such as by analogy could 
be attributed to an animal poison. 
“ The proof of the toxic action of the bite of the animal is as 
rigid as possible; it was probably greater in the case under 
reference, as the sufferer was fasting. I do not remember to 
have seen mention of any similar fact in any of the works on 
toxicology I have seen ; at present I have none to refer to; the 
fact may perchance be a new one, but at any rate probably 
these cases are very rare indeed, and observations of any value 
very few. One case may be of value; and although it is incum¬ 
bent on me to refer to existing works on zoology and toxicology, 
both to identify the animal, and ascertain if the fact be a new 
one, as I suppose, before making it known, yet as I have no 
means of doing so, I have no alternative but to depend on the 
existence, in those with the means at their disposal, of the 
desire to add to the common stock of knowledge.” 
Rote by Dr. J. Anderson, Curator of the Indian Museum. 
“ The description of the animal leads me to believe that it 
must have been Nycticebus tardigradus, or more accurately N. 
javanicus, for the former appears to be only a local variety of the 
latter. It is a most harmless little animal, living chiefly on 
insects. Grote took one to the Zoological Society from me, 
that I had for more than one year at the Botanical Gardens. I 
distinctly remember being bitten by it on one occasion, and 
my brother’s old servant Nubboo, who was killed by a snake 
about a year and a half ago, was also bitten, but with no ill 
result. I recollect those occurrences, because the natives about 
had a horror of its bite. I had other three living specimens 
when I left for Younan, but they were killed in my absence. 
The latter came from Assam (Goalpara), arid I am inclined to 
regard them as distinct from the Malayan form that extends 
up the Peninsula as far as Bengal. Its occurrence at Chitta¬ 
gong is nothing remarkable; and now that it is got there, I 
shall take the opportunity to try to induce Mr. Douglas to 
get some for the Museum, as I want more materials before I 
can decide on the specific identity or not of the Assam form 
with N. javanicus. 
“ The English name is ‘ Slow Lemur.’ ” 
