The health authorities of this country have accordingly taken the wise precaution of circulating very widely among the public coloured placards bearing illustrations of these four species, with a description of the essential anatomical details by which they may be recognised. Similar placards are exhibited in all the schools, and a generous distribution is made of instructions, printed on handkerchiefs, indicating the most effective method of treating poisonous bites. In Queensland, according to information furnished to me by Mr. C. W. De Vis, late Director of the Queensland Museum, Brisbane, the number of deaths resulting from the bites of poisonous snakes has been only twenty-seven in ten years. _E.--AMERICA._ The fauna of the New World includes only a very small number of poisonous snakes belonging to the family COLUBRIDÆ. The Genus _Elaps_ alone is represented there by twenty-eight species, scattered over Mexico, Central America, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, and Brazil. VIPERIDÆ, on the other hand, are extremely numerous, and belong exclusively to the subfamily CROTALINÆ; there are no VIPERINÆ. I.--COLUBRIDÆ. (a) =Elaps.= (Fig. 65.) [Illustration: FIG. 65.--SKULL OF _Elaps marcgravii_. (After G. A. Boulenger, _op. cit._)] The characters of this genus are: Maxillary bones very short, extending beyond the palatines, and bearing a pair of large poison-fangs; pterygoid teeth few or absent; mandibular teeth all of equal length. No postfrontal bones; præfrontals meeting, or narrowly separated on the median line. Head small, not distinct from neck; eyes small, with vertically elliptic or sub-elliptic pupils; nostril between two nasal shields. Body cylindrical; scales smooth, in 15 rows. Tail short; subcaudal scales in 2 rows, or partly single, partly in 2 rows. (1) _E. surinamensis._--Seven supralabials, of which the fourth enters the eye; frontal shield very narrow; 167-182 ventrals. Colour red, with black annuli disposed in threes (the middle one broader), separated by narrow yellow interspaces; 7 or 8 sets of annuli on the body; the red scales dotted with black; head red above, with the shields black-edged, followed by a black cross-band behind the parietals. Total length, 740 millimetres; tail 95. Grows to 1,900 millimetres. _Habitat_: Venezuela, Guianas, Northern Brazil, North-east Peru. (2) _E. heterochilus._--Six supralabials, second and third entering the eye; snout narrow; 209 ventrals. Colour red, with black annuli, as in _E. marcgravii_. Total length, 553 millimetres; tail 43. _Habitat_: Brazil. (3) _E. euryxanthus_ (Sonoran Coral Snake).--Seven supralabials, third and fourth entering the eye; internasals nearly as long as the præfrontals; 215-241 ventrals; 21-29 subcaudals. Colour red, with 11 black annuli edged with yellow; head black. Total length, 400 millimetres; tail 33. _Habitat_: Arizona, Colorado, North-western Mexico. It is found in Arizona up to an altitude of nearly 6,000 feet (1,800 metres).