532 JOURNAL, BOMB A Y NATURA L HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XVIII. 



creatures alive in a ghurrah brought to Major Dennys when he was 

 collecting poison for the Indian Government some years ago. 

 When the lid was lifted, several of these creatures, perhaps all, 

 would excite themselves, and begin rubbing their flanks, with the 

 result that the sound produced reverberating within the pot sounded 

 not at all unlike that of a boiling kettle, the effect being distinctly 

 uncanny as no issue of steam accompanied it, and the chatty was cold. 



Poison apparatus. — The fangs in the Echis are very large for 

 the size of the snake. In a one and a half footer they 

 are probably as long or longer than the fangs in a four foot Krait. 

 The maxillae are very mobile as in all vipers, allowing the fangs to 

 be rocked forwards and backwards, a trick it is very fond of exercis- 

 ing when ypwning, or when grasped by the neck. Fayrer* removed 

 the fangs from a specimen on the 7th October " and noticed parti- 

 cularly that there were no other fixed fangs." On the 11th October 

 he found a fang firmly anchylosed on each side and ready for use. 

 Similar experiments on this and other snakes by the same authority 

 showed the lapse of time to be in most instances considerably 

 longer, but the fact that in one instance only four days was necessary 

 to re-establish this important structure, should impress those who 

 handle poisonous snakes, with the importance of frequently inspect- 

 ing the jaws if they rely upon the extraction of the fangs for 

 their safety. 



Glands. — The poison glands that I have dissected out are perhaps 

 relatively small, but of this lam not sure. They are corrugated 

 externally, not smooth like the glands of the cobra. 



Poison. — Physical qualities. — I know of no special observations in 

 this direction. On the few occasions that I have seen this poison in 

 the fluid and solid state " in vitro " without making any special 

 examination it has appeared to me much the same as Daboia venom, 

 the characters of which were given in a previous article dealing 

 with that snake. » 



Quantity. — I am not certain what the yield of a single gland is, 

 but at a rough guess think it capable of storing, at least, 2 or 3 drops 

 of venom. The actual quantity is difficult to determine, as the glands 

 are so small. When Major Dennys, I.M.S., was collecting poison for 

 the Indian Government in Delhi some years ago, it was found very 



* Loc. cit., p. 140. 



