1890. C. Lumholtz, `Among Cannibals, p. 294:
"One of the snakes most common is the Australian python (<i>Morelia variegata</i>), the largest snake found in Australia, which here in Northern Queensland may even attain a length of more than twenty feet."
<i>Copper-head Snake</i>.
Name applied in Australia to <i>Hoplocephalus superbus</i>, Gunth., a venomous snake which is very common in Tasmania, where it is often called the <i>Diamond Snake</i> (q.v.). In Victoria, it is often confused with the Black Snake; unlike the latter, it is more common in the south than in the north. It derives its popular name from the colour of the head.
1885. F. McCoy, `Prodromus of the Natural History of Victoria,' Decade i. pl. 2:
"In Tasmania the name Diamond snake is unfortunately given to this species, for that name properly belongs to a perfectly harmless snake of New South Wales, so that the numerous experiments made in Tasmania to test the value of some pretended antidotes, were supposed in London to have been made with the true Diamond snake, instead of, as was the case, with this very poisonous kind. . . . I have adopted the popular name `copperhead' for this snake from a well-known vendor of a supposed antidote for snake-bites."
1896. `The Melburnian,' Aug. 28, p. 54:
"Those heather lands round Caulfield and Oakleigh where the copperhead snake basks, coiled on the warm silver sand."
<i>Death-adder</i>; also called <i>Deaf-adder</i>.
An Australian snake, <i>Acanthophis antarctica</i>. It is usually found in hot sandy districts, and is supposed to be the most venomous of the Australian snakes. Large specimens reach a length of upwards of three feet, the body having a diameter of about two inches: at the end of the tail is a short spine popularly known as the animal's "sting."