942 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XX. 



as to its poison as it seems very seldom to bite. Mr. C. Gore 

 told me of a bullock he once saw struck at and injured by this 

 snake which succumbed 20 minutes later. 



Poison apparatus. — The tangs are like those of other poisonous 

 Colubrines, being much stouter, and shorter than those of a viper 

 of similar length. There are usually two operative fangs placed 

 side by side in each maxilla. The poison glands are relatively 

 smaller than those of the cobra. I know of no special remarks 

 made upon the physical properties of the poison. 



Toxic symptoms. — To my namesake A. ■) . Wall we owe most 

 of our knowledge of the poisonous properties of banded krait 

 venom, indeed since his day farther investigations have done 

 little more than confirm his work. As no human records are 

 available, the only picture we can present of the clinical mani- 

 festations of the toxamiia is as a result of experiment in the lower 

 animals. 



Wall says the local condition produced is the same as that seen 

 in cobra bite. The part becomes swollen and painful, and later 

 discoloured blood or bloody serum oozes from the punctures for 

 some hours, and inflammation sets in later. He says the discolour- 

 ation is much less than that seen in cobra bite, but if the tissues 

 are cut into the same pinkish effusion of serum is to be observed in 

 the areolar tissue. Lamb says the local reaction is much less than 

 that seen in cobra bite ; in fact little or nothing is to be observed 

 at the side of the bite. Constitutionally two very distinct types 

 of disturbance occur, both equally fatal, but each differing in the 

 manner in which death is brought about, and the time that elapses 

 before the fatal issue. 



In the first the symptoms are exactly those of cobra poisoning 

 being due to a principle in the venom (neurotoxin) that acts upon 

 the brain and cord. Within an hour or two, or perhaps longer, 

 the bitten subject is prompted to assume a sitting or even a ly- 

 ing posture from a feeling of weakness. This is the beginning of 

 a paralysis that creeps on, affecting first the legs, then the trunk, 

 and last the head, and as time advances the weakness, and loss of 

 control of certain muscles becomes more and more pronounced. 

 Breathing becomes increasingly difficult and hurried, the face 



