Parasites and Tiger Snakes

The Tiger Snake that lay on the board before me was of course already dead. Not being fond of snakes, I even took the extra precaution of decapitating it after it was thoroughly chloroformed and pronounced dead by the herpetological lab technician. I had proceeded to dissect its vividly colored skin and had pinned the skin down on both sides of the carcass with two neat rows of pins. Just then Mike came in cautiously to look over my shoulder to examine the glistening muscles of the freshly dissected carcass of the Australian Tiger Snake, Notechis scutatus, reputedly one of the world’s most poisonous snakes.