A POPULAR TREATISE ON INDIAN SNAKES. 7 



Fayrer, and he says of tbe Daboia : " In confinement it is sluggish, and 

 does not readily strike unless roused, and irritated, when it bites with 

 great force, and determination. When disturbed it hisses fiercely, 

 and when it strikes does so with much vigour/' This is entirely my 

 own experience. It is a creature slow to wrath, contenting itself 

 under moderate provocation, with a loud sustained and warning hiss, 

 reminding one of a leaking foot-ball bladder. It will not strike till 

 considerably irritated, when it hurls itself at the offending object with 

 determined malice. I have known one spring with such a powerful 

 muscular effort that I believe it actually left the ground in its endea- 

 vour to strike me. 



The hiss once heard is not easily forgotten ; no other snake emits such 

 a volume of sound, to the production of which two factors contribute. 

 Firstly the size of the lung which is developed to a degree commensu- 

 rate with the remarkable body girth, and secondly the large size of the 

 nostril, for it is through this aperture that the sound is produced. 



In Bangalore I experimented with a large adult belonging to a 

 snakecatcher. Among his stock in trade he carried the familiar gourd 

 pipe used by this fraternity. This was sealed up in places with cobbler's 

 wax which I removed, rendered pliable by heat, and packed into the 

 Daboia's nostrils. This done the snake was unhanded, and irritated. 

 It was then noticed that the lung expanded with difficulty, and very 

 imperfectly, and hissing was no long feasible. 



A good example of its disinclination to bite is related by Blanford* ; 

 a friend of his once carrying one home under the belief that it was 

 a python until undeceived by its biting, and killing one of his dogs. 

 It made no attempt to bite or injure him, though apparently he did not 

 take any precautions in his manner of handling it. Again Fayrer f 

 says he always during his experiments had the greatest difficulty to get 

 this snake to bite voluntarily. I can fully confirm this; frequently rats 

 put in as food into its cage remain there alive and unmolested for days. 

 In making these remarks, however, I think one must expect many 

 exceptions to this attitude of indifference. Young specimens especially 

 seem more on the alert, more easily alarmed, and are correspondingly 

 more easily provoked to bite than many adults. 



The bite is sometimes inflicted by a snap, the creature relaxing its hold 



* Jourl., Asiat. Soc, Bengal, Vol. XXXIX, p. 874. 

 t Thanatoph. Ind., p. 64. 



