SNAKES FROM THE KHASI HILLS, ASSAM. 335 



In no specimen was a subooular shield present, and this is the 

 easiest guide to the identification of the species. In view of the fact 

 that Anderson has recorded two examples in which the 2nd supra- 

 labial did not enter the loreal pit * I paid special attention to this 

 very important point in identification, which I have always found 

 most constant in all the species. There was no exception to the 

 rule among my specimens, but more than once this shield appeared 

 to be divided. A closer scrutiny proved the apparent division to 

 be merely a furrow, not a suture, and this has led me to wonder if 

 Anderson might have been mistaken. 



Anomalies. — The 2nd subcaudal was entire in one example, and 

 the last 4 in another. 



Food. — Only one had recently fed, a young specimen 11^ inches 

 long which had swallowed a mouse. 



Breeding. — 8 specimens were this year's production varying from 

 7f to 9| inches in length. 



The anal glands secrete a watery, limpid, fluid which is stored in 

 considerable quantity. Pressure at the base of the tail causes this 

 to squirt out in a fine jet such as issues from the needle of a hypo- 

 dermic syringe. It possesses a peculiar but not exactly an offensive 

 smell, resembling in some degree that of resin. In a specimen 11| 

 inches long I found the secretion similar to, and as abundant as in 

 adults. 



It is one of the commonest snakes, and quite the most abundant 

 poisonous species occurring about Shillong. Like many other vipers 

 it is truculent, striking upon small provocation, and it evidently 

 frequently wounds the naked feet of the incautious native pedestrians 

 in this locality. My snakeman in trying to effect the capture of an 

 adult he found in a deep hole was bitten in the finger. He suffered 

 immediate and severe pain, and the hand and arm even to the 

 loose tissues below the armpit swelled rapidly, and considerably. 

 Blood continued to ooze for a long time (hours), and that shed did 

 not clot. He suffered from a severe local haemorrhage the next day, 

 but although his blood was materially altered in composition, no 

 constitutional effects, nervous or other, supervened, and he recovered 

 in three or four days, and volunteered his services as a snakecatcher 



* Ann. Zool. Res., Yunnan, pp. 832 and 3. 



