li APPENDIX. 



number of species, since many from their small size, and others from 

 their rarity, may be disregarded, and hence perhaps, the simplest 

 way of learning what are poisonous snakes, would be to pass an 

 hour or so in some museum where acquaintance might be made 

 with the commoner or more deadly species. The snakes I should 

 characterise under this head, would be, Istly, the Hydrophidse, or 

 marine snakes, possessing a flattened tail, the whole of which are 

 very deadly without exception, their fangs being small, but their 

 venom extremely potent. 2ndly, the vipers possessing tubular 

 erectile fangs of great length. The venom of some of these is 

 very deadly as in the Dahoia, or Russell's viper, and the Javanese 

 Calloselasma, whose bite is said to be fatal to man in five minutes, 

 which is far quicker than that of the cobra, whilst others of the 

 family, the green vipers, seem to be less dangerous, recovery often 

 taking place from their bite, with merely local pain and some 

 constitutional disturbance. Srdly, the ordinary poisonous snakes, 

 such as the gigantic Hamadryas, the Cobra, the blue Bungarus, 

 or krait, the black and yellow banded Bungarus, and some of 

 the larger species of Callophis. 



There are only two harmless snakes which, from their peculiar 

 colouration and from their also inhabiting estuaries and coasts, 

 can be mistaken for any of the poisonous family of Hydrophidse. 

 The one, Hipistes hydrinus has, however, a loreal shield which 

 at once shows its innocuous character, whilst the other Chersy- 

 drus granulatus may be easily discriminated by possessing over 

 100 rows of scales. The poisonous viperine snakes are easily 

 distinguished by their long tubular and erectile fangs, by their 

 triangular head, keeled scales, and repulsive physiognomy, their 

 short tails, stout form, and in the majority of Indian species by a 

 proiorbital pit, whence the name of one section of them of pit 

 vipers, the most celebrated of which is the American Rattle 

 snake. Among the ordinary venomous or colubrine snakes, the 

 Hamadryas is undoubtedly the most formidable, w^hilst com- 

 moner than any, are the Cobra, the blue and the banded Bungarus, 

 the bulk of the other Elapidfe being too small or too rare to merit 



