POISONOUS SNAKES. 71 
The genus Bungarus is so called from the vernacular appullation 
of Bungarum, which is applied to one of the species on the Coro- 
mandel coast. Some of them are very like Cobras without the hood, 
as the Kerait (B. ceruleus), which is a much-dreaded snake in 
India, but the geographic range of which extends neither to the 
countries eastward nor to Ceylon. The Snakes of this genus have a 
row of broad hexagonal scales along the middle of the back. The 
Kerait grows to four feet and a half in length, and has the upper parts 
of a bluish or brownish black, either uniform or more generally 
marked with numerous narrow white cross-lines, which mostly 
radiate from a white vertebral spot. In its habits it resembles the 
Cobra, preying on small mammalia, lizards, toads, and probably 
other snakes occasionally. ‘The Raj-sdmp (literally, Lord Snake) 
is a larger and thicker species than the Kerait, beautifully marked 
throughout with alternate broad rings of black and golden-yellow. 
This one is found almost generally throughout the Indian region, and 
would seem to prey entirely on other Snakes, especially of the 
Tropidonotus genus. It is of very sluggish habits, and frequents 
moist places and the vicinity of water. A species or local variety 
(B. ceylonicus), takes its place in Ceylon, and there is also a kindred 
species (B. semifasciatus) in China and Formosa. According to 
Cantor, the Bungarums are capable of darting nearly the anterior 
half of the body. Their bite is very dangerous ; but “ the magnitude 
of the danger,” remarks Dr. Giinther, “depends, as in other 
venomous snakes, on many circumstances—chiefly on the size and 
energy of the individual snake and on the place of the wound. As 
the fangs of the Bungarums are comparatively short, the wound is 
always superficial, and can be easily excised and cauterised ; also, 
experiments made on some of the lower animals show that the 
general effect on the whole system becomes visible only after a lapse 
of time.” 
Of poisonous snakes akin to the Bungarums, there are the Xenurelaps 
bungaroides, founded on a single specimen received from the Khasya 
hills (north of Sylhet); and the Megerophis flaviceps, which inhabits 
the Indo-Chinese and the Malayan countries, but not India. The 
latter attains to more than six feet in length, and when alive or fresh 
the head and neck are vivid blood-red, which soon fades toa pale 
buff hue in specimens immersed in spirit, and hence the faulty name 
of faviceps. As many as seven genera—G/yphodon, with two ascer- 
tained species ; Diemansia, with four ; Hoplocephalus, with eight ; 
Pseudechis, with one; Pseudo-naja, with one; LBrachysoma, with 
three ; and Vermicalla, with one—are peculiar to Australia with 
