18 AUSTRALIAN ZOOLOGY. 
mouse into & box, in which he had a tiger snake, to be food for the 
reptile ; he was astonished to find next morning that the mouse had 
killed the snake by biting the back of its neck, and had eaten some 
of its flesh. ‘Two or three of these reptiles, when kept in a box, bit 
each other viciously when stirred up, without the poison-fangs pro- 
ducing any ill effect. A naturalist, who was travelling to the west 
of Rockhampton, encountered a tiger snake in the act of trying to 
swallow a dead snake larger than itself. He killed it when it had 
swallowed about one-third of its prey. When attacked it tried to 
separate itself, but the head of its prey stuck fast in its throat. In 
this condition, the oppressor and the oppressed were put into spirits 
and sent to Europe. The other was a brown tree-snake, quite 
harmless. i 
Where found.—This species, which is confined to Australia, 
inhabits almost every part of it from its southern boundary to the 
Gulf of Carpentaria. In Tasmania it is popularly called carpet 
snake--a name which properly belongs to the harmless snake so 
called on the mainland. ‘This is a misuse of the established popular 
name of a different and innocuous form. Hence the ‘Tasmanian experi- 
ments on the treatment of bites from this highly poisonous species were 
unintelligible in Hurope, as there was a confusion of names. ‘The Mel- 
bourne museum has exhibits which were obtained from Moe, Gipps- 
land. In the museum, Sydney, there is a specimen from Tasmania, 
another from King George’s Sound, and a third from another part 
of Western Australia. ‘There is also a small two-headed snake, 
about six inches long, which was found in Tasmania. 
Remedies.—The danger of the bite appears to depend a good 
deal on the excitement of the snake, the season of the year, and 
whether the venom has been exhausted by previous attacks. ‘The 
poison acts as a direct and powerful sedative, and those who are 
unfortunately under its influence frequently succumb to its depressing 
effects. One of the most successful antidotes is strychnine, its 
restorative power being first noted in Australia; it prevents the 
lowering of the vitality until the effects of the venom have passed 
away. According to the experiments of Dr. Mueller, strychnine, if 
used in a form of the solution of the nitrate, acts as an antagonist 
to the snake’s poison. It is only after a time that the independent 
action of the strychnine appears in the shape of slight muscular 
spasms, and then the injection of the solution under the skin must 
be discontiuued, unless after a time the snake poison asserts itself. 
The two poisons being antagonistic, the nitrate of strychnine may 
be used in quantities which would otherwise be fatal, a grain in 
some instances being absorbed in the course of an hour. In the 
north of Australia the blacks knew of no remedy for snakebites, the 
victim simply laid himself down to die. In New South Wales they 
squeezed the wound between the thumb nails until the blood flowed. 
Those on the Clarence River paid particular attention to the scarifi- 
cation and sucking of the wound for some hours and letting it bleed 
freely. 
