more probable by the fact, that in those districts where
the extension of cultivation, and the visits of sportsmen, have reduced
the numbers of the jungle-cocks and pea-fowl, snakes have perceptibly
increased. The deer also are enemies of the snakes, and the natives who
have had opportunities of watching their encounters assert that they
have seen deer rush upon a serpent and crush it by leaping on it with
all its four feet. As to the venomous powers of snakes, DR. DAVY, whose
attention was carefully directed to the poisonous serpents of Ceylon[3],
came to the conclusion that but _four_, out of twenty species examined
by him, were venomous, and that of these only two (the _tic-polonga_[4]
and _cobra de capello_[5]) were capable of inflicting a wound likely to
be fatal to man. The third is the _carawala_[6], a brown snake of about
two feet in length; and for the fourth, of which only a few specimens
have been procured, the Singhalese have no name in their vernacular--a
proof that it is neither deadly nor abundant. But Dr. Davy's estimate of
the venom of the _carawala_ is below the truth, as cases have been
authenticated to me, in which death from its bite ensued within a few
days. The effect, however, is not uniformly fatal; a circumstance which
the natives explain by asserting that there are three varieties of the
carawala, named the _hil-la_, the _dunu_, and the _mal_-carawala; the
second being the largest and the most dreaded.

[Footnote 1: Genesis iii. 15.]

[Footnote 2: This is not likely to be true: in a very large collection
of snakes made in Ceylon by Mr. C.R. Butler, and recently examined by
Dr. Guenther, of the British Museum, only a single-specimen proved to be
new.

There is, however, one venomous snake, of the existence of which I am
assured by a native correspondent in Ceylon, no mention has yet been
made by European naturalists. It is called M[=a]pil[=a] by the
Singhalese; it is described to me as being about four feet in length, of
the diameter of the little finger, and of a uniform dark brown colour.
It is said to be often seen in company with another snake called in
Singhalese _Lay Medilla_, a name which implies its deep red hue. The
latter is believed to be venomous. It would be well if some collector in
Ceylon would send home for examination the species which respectively
bear these names.]

[Footnote 3: See DAVY'S _Ceylon_, ch. xiv.]

[Footnote 4: Daboia elegans, _Daud._]

[Footnote 5: Naja tr