ON THE COMMON INDIA N SNA KES. 533 



difficult to collect Echis venom : the yield of many specimens made 

 to bite one after the other into a watch glass gave very meagre results. 

 The method of collecting it was evidently wasteful, for the secretion 

 is free on excitement, sufficiently so at any rate for the venom to 

 trickle down, and form a drop which is ejected when the creature 

 strikes. Thus Miss Hopley* says : " When the poison gland is full 

 and the snake angry, you may see the venom exuding from the 

 point of the fang, and by a forcible expiration the reptile can eject 

 it. I have seen this in the little Echis carinata. ' : 



Toxicity. — The virulence of the venom is very great, as may be 

 judged from its effects experimentally on the lower animals. A very 

 few instances will suffice to exemplify this. Fayrerf (p. 138) records 

 the death of a pigeon in less than 60 seconds after being bitten by an 

 Echis, (p. 138) of a fowl in 70 seconds, (p. 138) another fowl in 



2 minutes, (p. 15) of a dog in about 4 hours, and (p. 136) a cobra 



3 feet 8 inches long succumbed to the bite of an Echis 23 inches 

 long, 30 hours later. In the last instance Fayrer remarks that there 

 could be no doubt that the cobra died from the effects of the 

 poison. Dr. Imlach \ says that the poison introduced into the system 

 of a fowl induces death in about three-quarters of a minute. 



Lamb, § as a result of most careful experiments with many snake 

 venoms, says that Echis venom has " considerably greater toxicity ' : 

 than that of Russell's viper. 



Physiological effects. — Lamb,H whose researches with this venom 

 are not completed, says that, as far as he has been able to ascertain, 

 the physiological action of Echis venom is similar tothat of Daboia 

 venom. He shows that very profound alterations in the quality of 

 the blood result. 



Effects of Echis bite on man. — Very conflicting views have been 

 expressed by various authors with regard to the dangers to man of 

 this snake. There are some who deny the lethal effects of its bite, such 

 as Gunther fl ; others think a fatality a very rare sequel, such as 

 Elliot**, who says he thinks " it just possible that an Echis might kill 

 a child, or a very weakly adult." 



* Snakes, p. 351. 



f Loc. cit. ^f Loc. cit. 



% Loc. cit. p. 80 et seq. \\ Rept., Brit. Lid., 1864, p. 397. 



§ Scient. Memoirs by Officers, Medl. and ** Loc. cit., p. 13. 

 Santy. Dept.'Govt. of India, No. 10, p. 8. 

 2 



