2 THE POISONOUS SNAKES OF INDIA. 



knowledge in conjunctiou with '■he other that can make rational treat- 

 ment possible, by teaching him when to withhold antivenene, and when 

 to administer it. 



It is to meet the unsatisfactory state of our knowledge on the subject 

 of the identification of snakes that these papers have been contemplat- 

 ed, in the hope that they may bring this part of the subject up to a 

 standard approaching that to which we have arrived in the study of 

 snake venoms. Fully appreciating the already over voluminous 

 and ever-increasing subjects which the profession of medicine embraces 

 I have endeavoured to make the subject as practical as possible to the 

 oriental practitioner by avoiding technicalities, or, where this cannot be 

 dene, explaining them with the aid of outline drawings, by which 

 means I hope to bring the matter of identification within the easy 

 grasp of hospital assistants and assistant surgeons, as well as medical 

 officers. 



In Volume XIV of the Bombay Natural History Society's Journal 

 I wrote a paper on the distinguishing characters between poisonous and 

 non-poisonous snakes, and appended a key in which I attempted to 

 frame easy rules for their separation. This key far from satisfied me 

 at the time, its length and complexity detracting from its practical 

 value ; however, in spite of its shortcomings, it has been favorably 

 received, and I have been repeatedly askeJ for spare copies till my stock 

 is exhausted. Recently the Inspector-General of Civil Hospitals in the 

 Central Provinces wrote asking if he might circulate this paper in his 

 Province, and the compliment conveyed in this request has caused me to 

 revise it. Since its publication, in 1901, I have examined many 

 hundreds of snakes collected by myself and others as well as large 

 collections in various institutions, including the British Museum, and 

 I am, therefore, now better qualified to deal with this subject. As a 

 result I find that I can simplify and curtail the original key so as to 

 considerably enhance its practical utility. 



The good reception accorded to this first brief paper has prompted 

 me to extend my remarks, so that in the present paper I propose to 

 deal in detail with every known poisonous land snake within our Indian 

 Possessions. The easy identification of these is my first object, and one 

 which I hope to assist by means of outline drawings, but I hope to do 

 more, and to incorporate with each species a few remarks so as to 



