THE PRINCIPAL SPECIES OF POISONOUS SNAKES 39 
food. The Hindu in question happened to be on the flat roof of 
his house, when a young Hamadryad appeared quite close to him. 
The snake raised its head, expanded its neck, and emitted a shrill 
hissing noise. Thereupon a dozen snakes came crawling up from 
all directions and assembled round the Hamadryad, when the 
latter made a dart at one of them and hastened to devour it 
(Fayrer). 
The Hamadryad is dreaded with good reason, for not only is 
it aggressive, and hurls itself boldly upon its adversary, but it also 
pursues him, a trait exhibited by no other poisonous snake. 
Cantor relates that in Assam an officer met with several young 
Hamadryads which were being watched over by their mother. The 
latter turned towards its enemy, who took to his heels with all 
speed, pursued by the terrible reptile. The course taken led to a 
river, which the fugitive did not hesitate to swim in order to gain 
the opposite bank, hoping thus to make good his escape; all, 
however, to no purpose. The snake still pursued him, and the 
officer saved himself only by a stratagem. He dashed his turban 
on the ground; the snake threw itself upon it and savagely bit 
it several times, thus giving the officer time to reach a place of 
safety. 
Cantor’s experiments show that the venom of the Hamadryad 
is extremely rapid in its action. A dog usually dies a quarter of an 
hour after being bitten, and Nicholson states that he has seen an 
elephant bitten by a snake of this species die in three hours. 
(c) Hemibungarus. 
This genus includes several species of snakes of somewhat small 
size, rarely exceeding 700 millimetres in length, with an elongate, 
cylindrical body ; the head is scarcely distinct from the neck, the 
pupil round, and the tail short, while the nostril is situate between 
two nasal shields. The temporal shields are arranged in a single 
row. The poison-glands sometimes extend into the abdominal 
