ON THE COMMON INDIAN SNAKES. 535 



observation that in Echis ridden tracts the mortality from snakebite 

 far exceeds that in districts where this snake is comparatively less 

 plentiful. Thus in a table compiled from official returns for 8 years 

 (1878 to 1885) for the districts of the Bombay Presidency, he shows 

 that in the districts of Hyderabad, Thar and Parkar, Karachi and 

 Ratnagiri where the Echis abounds, one man in 5,000 dies per annum 

 from snakebite, whereas in Bijapur, Nasik, Ahmednagar, and 

 Sholapur, where this snake is but little in evidence, only one death 

 from snakebite is recorded for 100,000 of the population. 



Murray* says " this little viper is very venomous ; although the 

 action of its poison is not so quick as that of the cobra, it is equally 

 as potent, and numerous deaths annually occur from its bite. " 



Mr. Millard has informed me by letter of the case of an attendant 

 in this Society's rooms in Bombay who in October 1903 was bitten 

 by an Echis in the temple. He was taken off at once to hospital, 

 admitted that he felt no fear, but in spite of prompt treatment died 

 24 hours later. 



On the other hand I could quote a large number of cases of Echis 

 bite which (mostly under treatment) recovered after effects of varying 

 severity. 



Symptoms of Echis poisoning hi man. — The symptoms produced by 

 Echis venom are almost, if not completely, due to the profound alter- 

 ation the poison works on the constitution of the blood, reducing its 

 coagulabilit}^ so that haemorrhages are most prone to occur. In a 

 case reported by Fayrerf of a woman of 30 bitten in the finger at 

 Kotree (Sind), bleeding occurred from the eyes, gums, tongue, nose, 

 vagina, and from beneath the nails of the thumbs, and great toes. 

 In a case reported by Nicholson J a servant bitten at Arconum bled 

 from a cut he had sustained some days before " but which appeared 

 all right " at the time of the bite. Sudden bleeding came on two 

 days after the bite, presumably from the tender scar. 



In this Journal Mr. Heath§ described his symptoms after a bite 

 from this snake. He was seized with violent and repeated vomiting 

 of blood, and had fever also. In two cases which occurred during 

 the Seistan Mission, the notes of which made by Major Irvine, I. M.S., 

 were forwarded to me by Sir A. H. McJVlahon, profuse bleeding 



* Reptilia of Sind, p. 57. J Ind. Suakes, p. 187. 



t Loc. cit., p. 59. § Vol. XII, p. 784. 



