Bitten By An Adder

As cases of poisoning from Che bite o venomous reptiles are happily rare in this country it may prove interestiug to some of your readers if I relate my ex perience on this matter, writes A Kudee, in London Nature. About a month ago I caught two snakes at Bickleigh, near Plymouth and while examining1 otio it "hit" or rather struck me on the lower part o the right thumb. I immediatelysuckec the puncture (it could not be called i wound), whlch bied a little, and triec to make lightof the matter. A livic patcj soon formed around the point and the. hand and arm commenced to ■swell. In a quarter of an hour I was unable to hold anything and almost in a fainting eondition. The flrs' symptom (apart from the swell ing) was a peculiar taste ant a sensation of swelllng in the teeth then the tongue commenced to swet and became so large that I could hardli move it, and my eyes seemed ready to start from theirsockets. In half an hour a terrible vomiting commenced, preceded by excruciating pains in the stomach and heart, and continued with tho pains altogether for nine hours, every drop of liquid being ejected almost as soon as Bwallowed. There was also violent purging and complete suppression of urine. There was practically no pain in the arm. Altogether the painful symptoms lasted for about nine hours. I did not lose consciousness at any time. The arm continued to swell foi two days, and then it was nearly as large as my leg. Af ter this the swelling subsided, but the arm did not return to its normal size until twelve days after the accident. After the swelling had gone I suffered very mucb from rheumatical pains, and, in fact, do so now, and the digestión was also very much impaired. The viper is a male, a little more than two feet long and one inch in diameter at the largest part. Color, a dull, yellowish brown on the upper side, with a zigzag black line running down the whole length. On the under side it is nearly black, exoept at the head, where it is pale yellow. I have kept tho reptile now for nearly five weeks, and, although well supplied with small frogs, etc, it has not eaten anything and seems as lively as ever. Cases of this kind, where the sufferer ís able to record the symptoms, oeing rather unusual, is my excuse in occupying the space of Nature.