290 



BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 



Mr. H. M. Phipson, the Honorary Secretary, then acknowledged the following con- 

 tributions to the Society's collections since last meeting:— 



Contributions. 



Description. 



Contributor. 



4 Birds' Eggs 



5 Sea Snakes 



1 Pangolin (alive) 



12 Fossils 



] Foetus of a dog 



1 Peacock 



A quantity of Fungi 



A quantity of Fish, Shells, 



Corals and other Marine 



Animals. 



Skeleton of a Dolphin 



A quantity of Turtles' 



EggS -' ,u * 



2 Muntjacs' Heads 



A number of Hermit Crabs. 



2 Flying Squirrels 



24 Birds' Eggs 



1 Snake 



1 Sea Snake 



1 Gibbon 



Several Bats 



1 Domestic Duck (alive) .. 



1 Mongoose (alive) 



1 Manura 



Merula nigropilea 



From Bombay Harbour... 



Manis pentadactyla 



From Baipur, C. P 



Curiously deformed 



Mounted 



From Bombay 



' From Alibag 



Do. 



Do. 



Cervulus aureus 



From Aden 



From Cashmere 



Do. 



Bungarus arcuatus 



Enhydrina bengalensis... 



Megaderma lyra 



With curiously deformed 

 feet. 



Herpestes griseus 



Paradoxurus musanga ... 



Mr. J. Davidson, C.S. 

 Capt. W. Aves. 

 Mr. H. M. Phipson. 

 Mr. J. A. Betham. 

 Mr. R. Tarkhad. 

 Dr. Kirtikar. 

 Do. 



Mr. W. F. Sinclair, C.S. 



Do. 

 Do. 



Do. 



Mr. D. Bennett. 

 Capt. F. B. Peile. 



Do. 

 Dr. Hojel. 

 Mr. F. Grieves. 

 Victoria Gardens. 

 Mr. W. F. Sinclair, C.S. 

 Mr. H. Bulkley. 



Mr. W. W. Saunders. 

 Mr. E. P. Close. 



Minor Contributions.— From Mr. Fraser Hore, Miss Warner, Mr. J. Greenwood, 

 Dr. Weir, Mr. G. H. Colomb. 



Contributions to the Library.— Journal of Comparative Medicine and Surgery, from 

 the editor, " Verhand lungen des Zoologisch Botanischen Gesellschift in Wien," in 

 exchange. 



Mr. H. M. Phipson, the Honorary Secretary, then read a paper on the " Poisouous 

 Snakes of Bombay," which will be found on page 244 of this number. 



The Rev. Fr. Dreckmann, S.J., made some remarks about the distinction of the 

 poisonous from the non-poisonous snakes. He first drew attention to the erroneous 

 but widely spread opinion that all poisonous snakes have a broad triangular head and 

 a slender neck. This was, no doubt, a characteristic of the viperine snakes, but they 

 had it in common with the perfectly hamless tree-snakes, whilst the Elapidas, which 

 include the most deadly snakes in existence, in this respect looked very innocent 

 The list of poisonous land snakes in the Bombay Presidency, about which there could 

 be any doubt, was happily a very short one. There could be no difficulty about the 

 cobra or the rare Ophiophagus. The two species of Callophis were so rare, led such 

 an obscure underground life, and were so sluggish, that it was practically impossible 

 to be bitten by them accidentally. For the others, the Bungarus, the Vipers and 

 Tree-vipers, he proposed the following " rule-of-thumb" : — 



1. Head broad, triangular and very distinct from neck.— (a) Those with head 

 covered with large shields or plate, are harmless. (&) Those having the head covered 

 with small scales are poisonous. 



2. Head scarcely distinct from neclt.—(a) Head covered with large shields and sub 

 caudals (shields beneath the tail) single, poisonous. (/>) Either head covered with 



