SNAKES 355 



inmates of Indian gardens are the terrible daboias, 

 Vipera russellii. They are truly superb reptiles, 

 for, while the colouring of their armour is relatively 

 quiet, it would be hard to find any finer harmony 

 than that presented by its tints of ochreous-brown 

 on which a series of shining black rings with lighter 

 margins are disposed in triple rows from the neck 

 to within a short distance from the end of the tail. 

 There is something strangely fascinating in the 

 association of such wonderful beauty with deadly 

 malignity. The terrible and complex potency of 

 their venom, the appalling strength of the huge, 

 perforated, sickle-shaped fangs that serve to inject 

 it, and the way in which the tinting of their coats 

 harmonise with that of the dead leaves and dry 

 earth of their usual surroundings, render them 

 almost matchless examples of accurate evolution 

 to a special end. It is not merely the abundance 

 and potency of their venom and the great develop- 

 ment of their jaws and fangs that render them 

 specially formidable, for these are reinforced by 

 certain peculiarities of habit and in the mode of 

 striking. Daboias are sluggish and inert, and often 

 lie coiled up and motionless on footpaths, until they 

 are actually touched or trodden on by passers-by, 

 when they suddenly unfold like a released spring 

 armed with terrible teeth. There is none of the 

 warning and preparation here that there is where 

 a cobra is about to strike ; no sitting up and threat- 



