TIGER SNAKE, 17 
the black stretched skin is then very visible between the separated 
scales. It retires into the ground in winter, and makes its appear- 
ance in Aug. or Sept., according to the temperature of the locality. 
‘The young are about 30 in number. They are like the adult in all 
respects, and are brought forth in Jan. It has been established 
beyond doubt that snakes swallow their helpless young as a means 
of protecting them. 
Bxperiments.—The greater number of cases of fatal snakebites 
to men and dogs near Melbourne, most of the experiments by Pro- 
fessor Halford and others to test the power of the poison, and the 
efficacy of the injection of ammonia into the blood, and other modes © 
of treatment, refer to this species. In Dr. Halford’s experiments at 
the University of Melbourne, of 31 dogs bitten by captive tiger 
snakes, 27 died and 4 recovered ; the deaths occurred on the average 
in 2 hours 2 minutes. Deputy-Inspector-General Macbeth, having 
caused in India 29 dogs to be bitten by cobras, found they all died, 
on the average in 2 hours 42 minutes. Dr. McCrae, the Chief 
Medical Officer of Victoria, caused 14 dogs to be bitten by tiger 
snakes, and none recovered. No remedies were used in any of these 
three sets of cases. ‘These recorded tests proved that, contrary to 
the expressed opinion of many Indian practitioners, the Australian 
tiger snake’s bite is more rapidly fatal than that of the cobra. 
Fatal cases. —A well-known magistrate, Mr. Drummond, wit- 
nessed an exhibition of Shires’s method of curing snakebite in the 
Anthropological museum, Melbourne, in the presence of many 
spectators. He took exception to his treatment, and pronounced the 
man an impostor. Baring his arm, he defied Shires, remarking 
excitedly that the fangs were extracted, that the snake was non- 
yenomous, and that his antidote was a mere nostrum. The tiger 
snake held by Shires bit Drammond’s arm about the flexor profundus 
digitorum. Shires implored him to allow him to use his remedy, 
but he would not. In ashort space of time alarming symptoms 
supervened, and medical assistance was summoned ; but it was too 
late, the magistrate died at Nissen’s Café twelve hours after the 
bite. In order to have counteracted the venom, the antidote, 
strychnine, should have been injected at once. Underwood, a well- 
known vendor ofa supposed antidote, was bitten in public by one 
of this species ; he died within an hour. This man usually allowed 
the copper-head snake to bite his arm, which is not so dangerous as 
the tiger snake, but one day he was induced to try the latter reptile. 
Cartwright, when exhibiting some of these snakes, was bitten, and 
also died within an hour. Dr. Casey, of Brighton, Victoria, 
reported a case of a man being bitten by one of this species, who 
died within half-an-hour of the bite. Griffiths, when handling some 
of these snakes as an exhibition at the Port Phillip Club Hotel, 
Melbourne, was bitten, and died in less than half-an-hour. A boy, 
nine years of age, near Sydney, was bitten in the little finger of the 
right hand by this reptile ; he died in about eight hours. 
Food.—The general food of the tiger snake is composed of frogs, 
lizards, mice, &c. Professor McCoy, on one occasion, puta live 
