350 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1893. 



LATERAL 

 HEAD OK 



■Fig.l 



DIAGRAMMATIC 

 VIEW OF THE 

 TRAUOPS. 



a I'oison gland; b supra 

 labial gland. 



( After Niemann.) 



true .siipralabinl ^land, althoii^li l)<)th glands arc contained in the same 

 envelope ot connective tissue, and lie was able to tracetlie single duct 

 leading from the yellowish gland to the groove of the posterior elon- 

 gated fang. One of the species was TrnijirpH prasiniiSj Wagler (the same 

 species with which Prof. Vaillant experimented), and an inhabitant of 

 the East Indies, the other being Leptodeiraannv- 

 lata, (L.), from tioi)ical America. Fig. 1 is a copy 

 of Mr. Niemann's schematic representation of the 

 arrangement in the former. Fig. U shows a sec- 

 tion of the grooved fang near its base, coi»ied from 

 the same author. 



That these snakes are not entirely harmless, 

 even to man, is evident from the very recent expe- 

 rience of Mr. J.J. Quelch, of Georgetown, British 

 Guiana,* who was bitten on the first finger by a large specimen of the 

 common red-white-andblack-banded snake, Erythrolamprm veuK.stis.si- 

 mus, driving its hinder grooved teeth three times- down into the tiesh. 

 About half an hour after, the finger became much swollen at the i)lace 

 and distinctly very painful. It was not till about four hours after- 

 ward that real relief was obtained, though the place 

 was tender for a much longer time. Another case 

 was that of the clerk in the Museum, w^ho was bitten 

 on the finger by a young specimen of the. common 

 frog snake or Mattipi, Xenodon severun, whose hinder 

 enlarged teeth were driven deeply into the tiesh, with 

 a result similar to that described in the case of the 

 other snake. 



It will be observed that while the snake by which 

 Mr. Quelch himself was bitten is a true opistoglyph 

 with grooved posterior fangs, the- one which caused 

 a similar result in the clerk, viz, the Xenodon, has 

 the enlarged posterior teeth solid and not grooved. 

 I would call attention to the fact, however, that this 

 identical species is described by Duvernoyt as having the yellowish 

 gland well differentiated. That the bite of the allied species, Xenodon 

 rhabdocephalns, did apparently have no unpleasant eflect on Dr. Strad- 

 lingl is not difficult of explanation in view of the fact that occasionally 

 the bite of even some of the most dangerous snakes has been ineffective, 

 but enough is said to showthat the question is not an unreasonable one: 

 Is it essential for a truly venomous snake to possess grooved fangs "J 



As a matter of fact, at the very moment of this sentence going to 

 press, the ([uestion seems answered conclusi\ ely in the negative by the 

 experiments of Phisalix and Bertrand, who have shown that the saliva 



Fiff. 2. 



CROSS - SECTION OF 

 GKOOVED FANO OF 

 THAGOPS PKASINUS, 

 NEAR BASE. 



Enlarged, a Poison 

 groove; ftpnlp cavity. 



(Alter Niem;inn.) 



* Zoolosrist (3), XVII, .Tannary, 1893, pp. 30-31. 



t Ann. Sc. Nat., \x.\. 1S33. pp. U-ir>. 



\ Kelerrecl to iu Miss C. C. H(>i>loy"s, " Snakes, etc." 1882, p. 400. 



