MISai:LLANEOCS 2^0TES. 2»57 



given strychnia and other stimulants, and transfusion of salt solution was per- 

 formed. Under this treatment he rallied temporarily, but a recurrence of th<' 

 collapse at 10-30 p.m. culminated in death. 



The case was thus a very typical one of viperiuc toxicmia. There were lu) 

 symptoms at any time referrable to the nervous system, all the action of the 

 poison being exerted upon the blood. The reduction in the coagulability of 

 this fluid was responsible for the visible haemorrhages, and there is no doubt 

 but that the swollen and discoloured condition of the tongue, and the tissues 

 in the right arm was due to subcutaneous hasmoirhages. The actual cause of 

 death was obviously heart failure, due no doubt to the drain upon the system 

 from continued and persistent bleedings. One could not expect beneficial 

 results from antivcnene in this case which was a wholly unsuitable one for the 

 exhibition of this remedy. The serum prepared at Kasauli is only antitoxic 

 to the venoms of the cobra and the daboia. 



I have examined the snake that caused this fatality. 



Case 2. 



I am indebted to Captain Fry, I.M.S., for the following:— A grass cutter was 

 bitten at Lahore (date not recorded) in the finger by an Echis about 10| inches 

 long. He went to the Cantonment Hospital within an hour, and his wound 

 was " deeply incised," rubbed with crystals of permaiiganate of potash, and 

 allowed to bleed for an hour in a basin of hot water. 20 c. c. of antivenene 

 were then injected subcutaneously. On admission he complained only of 

 pain in the wound, but there was no local swelling. He was all right in an 

 hour, and suffered from no after ill effects. 



This case I regard as one of Echis bite not Echis toxaemia. It is very signifi- 

 cant that there was no local swelling an hour after the accident, and from the 

 absence of this symptom I feel justified in assuming that venom had not been 

 injected into the wound. 



The offender was identified by Captain Fry who reports that it had only 

 small scales on the top of the head, an undivided anal, and subcaudal shields, 

 and his diagnosis appears to me conclusive. 



F. WALTj. c.m./c.s.. Major, t.m.s. 



Ai.MORA. i:^.^^ DMemher IDOS. 



No. XXVI.— REMARKS ON SNAKE NOTES IN THE 

 LAST JOURNAL (No. 4, VOL. XVIII.) 



Flying Snakes. I cannot help suspecting that Major Begbie was mistaken 

 iu his identification of the snake he alludes to in Note XXIV. Firstly, Eckis 

 carinata is not a tree snake and very rarely climbs, and therefore T think 

 would hardly be likely to have acquired the habit of springing from bough 

 to bough, or from a twig to the ground. The fact that the snake is said to 

 have been curled up in a figure of eight makes me strongly suspect it was ;i 

 Dipsarlomorphus trigonatua. as I have noted this peculiarity in this species, and in 



