B IT N G A R U S. 



Giinther's description of this genus is given below. 



" Body rather elongate ; tail comparatively short ; head more or less 

 dilated, depressed, with broad, rounded muzzle ; scarcely distinct from 

 neck, which is not dilatable. Eye small, with round pupil. Rostral 

 shield broader than high, reaching to upper part of snout ; anterior 

 frontals half the size of the posterior ; vertical five-sided ; occipitals 

 tapering behind. Nostril rather wide between two nasals. Loreal 

 none ; one prae-, two post-oculars. Seven upper labials, the third and 

 fourth entering the orbit. Scales smooth, moderately imbricate, dis- 

 posed in oblique rows, forming fifteen longitudinal series round the 

 body ; those of the vertebral series are very broad hexagonal. Ventrals 

 between 200 and 250 ; anal and sub-caudals entire. Scales without 

 apicial groove. Maxillary bone with a fang in front ; a second small 

 simple tooth at some distance behind the fang." 



" The Bungarums," says Sir Joseph Fayrer, " are diurnal terrestrial 

 snakes, but like others, they generally prefer the shade to the sunshine. 

 They are found in the open country, in grass and low jungle, and in 

 fields. They live in holes in the ground, sometimes down among the 

 roots of trees at a considerable depth. They are not frequently seen in 

 inhabited places, though they do at times find their way into huts and 

 houses. I killed a very large one in Rangoon many years ago that got 

 into a hut full of Dhoolie bearers at the field hospital during the last 

 Burmese war. They feed on small animals, snakes, frogs, toads, lizards, 

 and they are very poisonous ; but owing to the shortness of their fang, 

 which is much smaller than that of the cobra, their bite is less dangerous, 

 and excision being more practicable, treatment may be useful and 

 recoveries more numerous." 



