happened at night, when the reptiles, having been surprised or trodden on, inflicted the wound in self-defence. For these reasons the Cingalese, when obliged to leave their houses in the dark, carry a stick with a loose ring, the noise of which, as they strike it on the ground, is sufficient to warn the Snakes to leave their path." In some parts of the vast Indian region the natives regard the innocuous Chameleon as Venemous; in other parts various Geckos, or other Lizards. In Bengal there is a current notion regarding a terrifically poisonous Lizard, which is termed the _Bis-cobra_, but which has no existence except in the imagination of the natives--who bring the young of the Monitors and occasionally other well-known Lizards as exemplifying the object of their dread. Again, the little harmless Burrowing Snakes (_Typhlops_), which, superficially, have much the appearance of earth-worms, are there popularly regarded as highly poisonous, though not only are they harmless, but physically incapable of wounding the human skin. Strangers who are little versed in zoology are commonly led astray by such errors on the part of natives of those countries, and, unfortunately, there is a number of stock vernacular names which are applied to very different species in different localities. Thus Europeans in India are familiar with the appellation "Carpet Snake," as denoting a very deadly reptile, but nobody can there point out what the Carpet Snake really is; and the one most generally supposed to bear that name is a small innocuous Snake (_Lycodon aulicus_), which is common about human dwellings. In the Australian colony of Victoria, however, the appellation Carpet Snake is bestowed upon a terribly Venemous species (_Hoplocephalus curtus_); while in the neighbouring colony of New South Wales, a harmless and even useful creature (_Morelia spilotes_) is habitually known as the Carpet Snake. With regard to the poison of Venemous Snakes, attention has lately been directed to the virtue of ammonia or volatile alkali. This should be administered internally, mixed with alcoholic spirit and water, in repeated doses; and it should also be injected into a vein--about one drachm of the _liquor ammoniæ_ of the shops being mixed with two or three times that quantity of water. The patient should be kept moving as much as possible, and the effects of a galvanic battery should also be tried in cases where animation is nearly or quite suspended. By these means it is asserted that quite recently, in Australia, some very remarkable cures have been effected.