u 



Shape — Head : broad and thick. 

 Body : stout. 

 Tail : short. 



Eye : moderate with erect pupil. 

 Teeth : a very long poison -fang capable of com- 

 plete depression. 

 Nostril : small. 



Head shields — Except two very small internasals, a small 

 single nasal and a pair of sublinguals, the head 

 is completely scaly. (Fig. 9.) 



Scales — 25 to 37, strongly keeled and much imbricate. 



Ventrals — 149 to 154 ; anal entire. Sub-caudals 21 — 26, 



single. 

 Colouring— Sa,ndy, grey, light brown or dark cedar. A 



more or less distinct pale vsinuous line along 



the flank. 

 A broad, pale brown > mark on the head. Belly 



whitish, spotted. 



Habitat— India; common in many parts, especially sandy, 

 desert-like places in the plains. 



RUSSELL'S VIPER {Vipera Russelli or Daboia elegans).^ 



Length — Grows to five feet ; tail one-sixth. 

 Shape — Similar to the saiv-scaled viper but much larger 

 and stouter. The nostril is laro-e. 



o 



Head shields — The head is completely scaled except 

 three small shields surrounding the nostril and 

 the sublinguals. (Fig. 9.) 



Scales — 27 — 33, strongly keeled and imbricate. 



Ventrals— 163 to 170 ; anal bifid. Sub-caudals 45 —60, 

 double. 



* Also called the Chzin Viper, Dxboicf. 



