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and Environment and author of A Field Guide to Reptiles and Frogs of … Practically Everywhere. He has never met a scaly person he didn’t like.
    After outlining the problem and reading the documents, Nick said:
    It is certainly plausible that a human-delivered puncture wound from a syringe/needle would remain undetected either amongst ‘abrasions’, or actually be the source of a ‘boil scar’ (especially if it was relatively fresh). Similarly, it is plausible that he may have accidentally put his hand down on a snake, or even attempted to catch or handle a snake he encountered (not recommended but people do such things). A ‘hot day and warm night’ are precisely the conditions under which usually diurnal snakes become nocturnal. They have poor eyesight, and rely largely on chemoreception (a bit like an advanced ‘super’ sense of smell), and are thus unfazed by darkness, instead using their flickering tongue to ‘see’ at night. Although most folks assume that reptiles love hot weather, and think that the hotter it is the more likely it is that they are active, high temperatures rapidly kill reptiles, and on very hot days they will seek cooler shelters during the heat of the day, and become crepuscular or nocturnal.
    So, even if not especially likely, it is not impossible that this person was strolling along the beach, went to sit, and put his hand on a snake. Only a year or two back a friend of mine who works for the council showed me pictures of a large Tiger Snake that was on the sand on St Kilda Beach; a relevant example of snakes occurring on an actual beach (not just in the dunes), and in a very urbanised area. Also, beach-washed, venomous sea snakes also turn up from time to time on the beaches of southern Australia.
    The time of year is certainly spot-on for snakebite risk; the start of summer is a time when many snakes are very active. If the victim was fully clothed and wearing long trousers, this lessens the likelihood of snake envenomation after inadvertently stepping on a snake. I mention this because snakes are often active after dark on hot days/nights, and are easily stepped on in the dark, but as local elapid (or front fanged venomous) snakes have very short fangs, long trousers afford some protection from bites to the lower legs. It is not out of the question that fangs would effectively penetrate light trousers, but it does lessen the odds. Of course, it remains plausible that he may have been bitten elsewhere on the body.
    And generally on Adelaide snakes he had the following to say:
    The Eastern Brown is not the only contender that naturally occurs in that general area. A close cousin, the clumsily named Strap-snouted Brown Snake ( Pseudonaja aspidorhyncha ), and the Tiger Snake ( Notechis scutatus ) are also possible, and both have the (proven) bioarsenal to rapidly kill humans. The near-beach habitat described sounds just fine for both species of Brown Snake, and for Tigers too. But both will also show up in areas with little or virtually no remnant ‘bush’.
    Venom works differently to poison. It usually needs to be injected or absorbed, rather than ingested. Ingested venom (provided it is not absorbed through a mouth wound) would likely be rapidly and effectively neutralised by saliva. Still, I can’t see it becoming a popular condiment…
    Re venom inhaled via cigarette or the like, I’m not 100 per cent sure, but my best guess is that it would not be fatal (again, it needs to enter the lymphatic or circulatory system to do its job as evolution intended). However, I am intrigued by what, if any, effects smoked venom would produce!
    It is well within the bounds of possibility that any minor local/visible effects of envenomation could be overlooked post-mortem, especially back then, especially if there were other marks to ‘camouflage’ localised effects, especially if the victim was quite hairy, especially if the examiner