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Show 1895.] O N A N ELAPOID S N A K E. 865 drops it carefully over the thorns in the ring, which being close together hold it up, so that soon nothing can be seen of the thorns. The use of the dried dung is, to hold up the sand which hides the trap. The hemp rope, now made into a slip-noose, is put round the top ring, and the stick to which it is attached buried in the sand. The whole is now carefully covered with sand. One of the shikaries laid his traps so successfully that it was almost impossible to find one again unless a Gazelle was caught in it. The marks like those of a Gazelle made by the fingers over the trap add to the deception. It is curious to remark that a Gazelle will rarely walk over an impression left by either beast or man in the sand. W h e n the Gazelle comes in the evening to feed, its foot- slips through the top ring in the centre where the thorns meet, and so to the bottom of the hole. The top ring is now fixed round the Gazelle's leg, at the height of the depth of the hole, the spiky thorns entering the skin. This ring also holds up the hemp rope, which the Gazelle, in endeavouring to kick off the thorny ring that pricks it, draws tight, generally over the knee. The Gazelle starts off, dragging after it the date-stick, attached to the rope. The swinging stick makes it impossible for the animal to get away at any pace, as, twisting round one leg or the other, it throws the Gazelle to the ground continually. The spoor of the trapped Gazelle with the marks of the swinging stick are easily found, and the animal tracked down until in sight, when a trained greyhound will soon catch and hold it until his master comes up. During November and December the Gazelles are caught when fawns by trained hounds, and this is the simplest method ; but it can only be practised during two months, as it takes a very good dog to catch a Gazelle when more than this age. During the eight days I was in the desert, though unsuccessful in trapping any, I saw several very fine specimens of Loder's Gazelle. 6. On the Type Specimen of Boulengerina stormsi, an Elapoid Snake from Central Africa. By G. A. B O U L E N G E R , F.R.S. [Received November 26, 1895.] (Plate XLVIII.) In the year 1886 M. L. Dollo established a new genus of Elapoid Snakes which he did m e the honour of naming after me Boulengerina. The single specimen of Boulengerina stormsi formed part of a small collection from Lake Tanganyika, presented to the Brussels Museum by Capt. Storms, an officer in tbe service of the Congo State. The Snake was described very shortly, and although the type specimen had passed through m y hands before, I felt desirous of re-examining it in order to fix its correct position in the system. M y friend M . Dollo having, with his usual kindness, entrusted the specimen to me for description, |
