DENTITION. 365 



muscle. The two fangs above the dotted illustration of 

 viperine dentition (p.^355) show both positions. Nicholson 

 affirms that the Indian viper Daboia can inject as much 

 poison in half a second as a cobra can in three seconds ; * that 

 whereas a cobra's virus flows in small droplets, the viper's 

 runs in a fine stream.' Though a much smaller snake 

 than the cobra, Daboia's fangs are nearly double the size, 

 as may be observed by comparing the figs. C and D (p. 349). 

 There seems reason to believe also that this viper (which 

 in its features Fayrer considers a true Indian type) can 

 inflict injury with more than the pair of functional fangs. 

 * In reference to the connection of the poison fangs with 

 the maxillary bones,' says this learned experimentalist, * I 

 would note that second or even third supplementary fangs 

 may be anchylosed with the principal one to the maxillary 

 bone. I have before me the skull of a Daboia, for which 

 I am indebted to ]\Ir. Sceva, in which this is the case ; and 

 where there are five well-developed poison fangs on each 

 side, of which on one side two are anchylosed to the bone.' ^ 

 (Described by ]\Ir. Tombes, Phil. Trans, vol. clxvi. p. 146.) 



This may explain what we so often read in the description 

 of venomous snakes found with two, three, or more fangs 

 on each side. In my LacJicsis two were distinctly visible 

 before I began to dig for those hidden in the loose mem- 

 brane, of which there seemed an abundance, and I am 

 nearly certain that the second one had its own particular 

 sheath. The spirit in which the specimen had so long been 

 immersed, as well as my awkward probings, forbid me to 

 speak with certainty regarding this second sheath. 



^ Thanatophidia of India, 2d ed. p. ']2. 



