6ft 



THE POISONOUS SNAKES OF INDIA. 



Fdenti/icatmi.— The nuJivided state of the shields henejith the tail 

 will admit of no confusion with others of this f^roiip. 



Supplemeiitary characters. — ^Sw^raocM/a;' not divided. Nasal touches 

 the rostral and the 1st supralabial. Ejje. — Diameter exceeds its distance 

 to the nostril, and is greater than its distance to the edge of the lip, 2 



rows of scales between it and thr 

 supralabials. Supralahials. — The 

 4th is the largest of the series 

 irarely, the 3rd). SublinguaU 

 touch '6 or 4 infralabials, and 2 

 small scales behind. InfralahiaU 

 \ (rarely o), the 4th touching 

 2 scales behind. Scales inmid- 

 iiodv 27 to o7, Ventrals not 

 ridged laterally. S^ihcaudals 

 undivided. During Hfe its 

 peculiar habit of throwing its 

 body into a double coil, inflating 

 itself, and then rubbing one coil 

 against the other so as to pro- 

 duce a sound closely resembling 

 liissing, will in itself proclaim 

 its identity. 



D/str/hntion. — It occurs in 

 the North-East of Ceylon and 

 throughout a large area of the 

 Indian Peninsula from Cape 

 Comorin to the Ganges, but 

 ))eing n desert form preferring 

 an arid sandy soil, it is distri- 

 buted chiefly in isolated patches 

 where it is frequently very com- 

 FiG.37.-Fchiscarinata(x2A). mon. Jerdon remarks it is 



common throughout the Carnatic. I have found it especially so about 

 Trichinopoly. I believe it does not occur in the narrow tract between 

 the Hills and the Malabar Coast, South of Goa. To the North-East 

 its limits are not exactly known ; if it occurs in Bengal it is scarce 

 and only to the South of the Ganges. To the North-West it extends 

 through Rajpootana, the Punjab, Sind and Baluchistan to Trans- 

 caucasia and is extremely abundant in tliese i)arts. Some idea oi 



