1 Nov., 1898.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 385 
General Notes 
SNAKE BITES. 
By A. J. BOYD. 
Wirn the advent of the hot season, those undesirable reptiles, snakes of 
yarious kinds, are making their annual appearance, and it therefore behoves all . 
country dwellers to gain some knowledge of their habits and peculiarities, 
Many people have subjected themselves to painful operations, and to the no 
less objectionable cure of ardent spirits, ammonia, &c., under the belief that 
they have been bitten by a venomous snake, when calm examination would have 
shown that the bite had been inflicted by a harmless species. An incident 
which happened to ourselves many years ago may illustrate this point. 
Returning from town to Oxley Creek one evening at a time when the onl 
track was that cut by a surveyor through the dense scrub, which then (1862) 
bordered the Brisbane River and its tributary creeks, we suddenly trod on a 
snake which at once inflicted a wound in the leg. We worked hard at that 
wound with a knife, blunted by constant use in tobacco-cutting, and then 
travelled over a mile to our home. On arrival, the wound was examined, the 
knife having failed to make any impression, and it was seen that there were a 
great many tooth-marks on the flesh. Having read Dr. Krefft’s work on 
Australian snakes, we felt assured that the reptile was non-venomous, and the 
result proved this to be correct, as no evil effects followed. Dr. Krefft says 
that the bite of a non-venomous snake shows tooth-marks thus— : : whereas 
venomous snakes leave only two punctures, thus—. . or possibly three or 
four, thus— { ~ {as 
The venomous snake does not dite. He strikes andimmediately withdraws. 
A carpet snake, for instance, when biting, hangs on, and even shakes his 
victim, as happened in the case above mentioned, whilst a brown snake, of 
whose attack we also have some experience, only inflicts a wound in the shape 
of a blow. Many people are afraid of water snakes. ‘The true fresh water 
snake, ugly though he appears, is quite harmless, whilst the sea snakes are all 
poisonous. There is, of course, some difficulty in deciding, when meeting a 
snake swimming in fresh water, whether it is a true water snake or merely a 
land snake taking a bath or crossing a creek or lagoon. All marine water 
snakes exhibit a tail formation different to that of Jand snakes, and can 
be at once determined. Few of the tree snakes are venomous. Indeed, 
the number of yenomous snakes in Queensland is small in comparison to the 
number of varieties. There is a simple means of deciding whether a snake is 
venomous or not, and that is by the labial scales. In the dangerous species, 
the number of scales on the lip is eight, whilst more than eight are seen 
in non-venomous snakes, such as the carpet snake, green snake. Even the 
most deadly species are not so dangerous as those of India, and of Southern 
and Central America, or as the rattlesnake of North America, the venom 
fangs of the former being shorter than those of the latter. 
People talk of snakes stinging. Snakes never sting, Nature not having 
provided them with any apparatus for the purpose. The sting, so-called by 
uneducated people, is the tongue. ‘This member is forked, and serves the same 
purpose as the antenna of a cockroach or butterfly. It receives the vibrations 
of the air, and it serves to warn the snake of the presence of a possible enemy. 
The sole weapon of offence in a venomous snake is the fang, which is movable. 
Tt is not, as many suppose, hollow or perforated from root to tip, but is grooved. 
The base of the fang rests on a poison gland. When not in use for aggressive 
purposes it lies flat on the gum, and is only erected when the reptile is excited: 
