50 THE POISONOUS SNAKES OF INDIA. 



I saw him some 20 minutes later he had bled fully a pint and-a-half, 

 and was still bleeding profusely. He never had a temperature above 

 99° in spite of the severe local effects. The entire virulence of the 

 poison seemed to have been spent on altering the constitution of the 

 blood. It was specially noted that, though it appeared nonnal to the 

 naked eye, it did not clot, and the profound alteration in the direction 

 of reduced coagulability which caused the hsemorrhage was seen for 

 four days at least when the wound began oozing again after suspension 

 of internal remedies. 



His treatment consisted of a very perfunctory cauterisation and 

 ineffectual ligature carried out by a ' doctor baboo " in the bazar some 

 time after the bite. Two hours after the injury I incised the wound 

 freely, and rubbed in permanganate of potash crystals. After the onset 

 of haemorrhage, the internal remedies administered were chloride of 

 calcium, adrenalin chloride and ergot. He left hospital on the third 

 day after the hemorrhage, but had some slight oozing again the 

 next day. 



Another cooly in Shillong brought me two of these snakes, and said 

 he had just been bitten by one. • They were both adults. His right 

 ankle had been scratched by the fang, and the tissues were a little 

 swollen. He complained of no pain, and betrayed no fear, and I saw 

 him four days later, when he told me he was quite well, and had not 

 suffered much. He had applied ginger locally. 



Dimensions. — Grows to 3 feet. 



Colour. — Light brown or buff with large irregularly squarish patches 

 or spots of black on the middle of the back, and a coarse mottling 

 of these two hues in the flanks. Crown dark brown with a buff 

 V bordered dark brown below. Belly yellowish, uniform in front, 

 obscurely spotted or mottled behind. 



L^CBESIS OAITTOEIS- Cantor's ViPor. 



Identification. — Most easily identified by the rows of scales in the 

 middle of the body numbering 29, 



