GOPPER-HEAD SNAKK. 47 
Habits.—Similar to those of the black snake described else- 
where. Its numerous young are brought forth in December and 
January. 
Where found.—This species was long supposed to be confined 
to Tasmania, and the first announcement by Professor McCoy of its 
being on the mainland near Melbourne was supposed to be erroneous 
by subsequent writers on the subject in New South Wales and 
London. The copper-head snake is very abundant in Tasmania, 
where it is called the diamond snake—a name which now properly 
be'ongs to a harmless snake of New South Wales. This causes con- 
fusion in description unless this fact is borne in mind. It is found 
in Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, and Western 
Australia. It is met with about the south-eastern suburbs of Mel- 
bourne, the museum of which has specimens from Mulgrave, South 
Brighton, Prahran, Caulfield, Loutit Bay, and Dandenong-road. It 
has been met with in the Snowy Mountains, and near Moe, Gipps- 
land. The Macleay museum, Sydney, has a specimen from Moss 
Vale, being positive proof of its presence in New South Wales. It 
has been found at the following places in South Australia: Port 
Lincoln, Mount Lofty Ranges, Kangaroo Island, Marble Ranges, 
and Aldinga. One was found also on King’s Island, and presented 
to the Tasmanian museum. 
Ammonia antidote.—This snake for its size is extremely 
venomous. Many of the dangerous cases of snakebite near Mel- 
bourne are due to it. A stationmaster named Brown on the 
Hobson’s Bay Railway at Elsternwick was bitten by a small 
individual of this species, which some workmen imagined they had 
killed, and after carrying it some distance hanging across a stick, 
threw it upon the platform, when Brown, taking it up, received a 
small wound in the finger, and shortly showed the usual symptoms 
of snake-poisoning. ‘The ordinary remedies were applied—excision 
of the bitten part, rubbing ammonia on the wound, ligatures, and 
sucking the wound, doses of brandy, galvanism, and the patient 
walked about by assistants. ‘Two surgeons gave him up, his sight 
being gone, his legs paralysed, his pupils dilated, neck and face 
swollen, and coma ensuing trom which he could not be roused. ‘The 
medical attendants, explaining to his friends that they could do no 
more, and that his death might be looked for in afew minutes, 
proposed to try what was then considered the dangerous remedy of 
injecting strong liquor of ammonia into a vein, as advocated by Pro- 
fessor Halford. On this being done by Dr. Halford, who had been 
sent for, to the astonishment of all present the man instantly recov- 
ered consciousness, the pupils of his eyes contracted, and, sitting up, 
he recognised his wife, child, and friends. The symptoms passed 
off, and he survived, and after a time was able to resume his duties. 
