THE DIPSAS. 



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parts of Asia and is found in the Philippines. The name Dipsas is derived from a 

 Greek word, signifying thirst, and is given to this snake because the ancients believed 

 that it was eternally drinking water and eternally thirsty, and that to allay in some 

 degree the raging drought, it lay coiled in the scanty springs that rendered the deserts 

 passable. As they considered almost all Serpents to be venomous, and, according 

 to the custom of human nature, feared most the creatures of which they knew least, 

 they fancied that the waters were poisoned by the presence of this dreaded Snake! 

 Lucan, in the Pharsalia, alludes to this idea : 



DIPSAS. Eudlpsas cfaodoa. 



BANDED BUNGARUS. Buagarus fasciatus. 



" And now with fiercer heat the desert glows, 

 And mid-day gleamings aggravate their woes ; 

 When lo ! a spring amid the sandy plain 

 Shows its clear mouth to cheer the fainting train, 

 But round the guarded brink, in thick array 

 Dire aspics rolled their congregated way, 

 And thirsting in the midst the horrid Dipsas lay. 

 Blank horror seized their veins, and at the view, 

 Back from the fount the troops recoiling flew." 



The ancient writers also averred that the bite of the Dipsas inoculated the sufferer 

 with its own insatiate thirst, so that the victim either died miserably from drought, or 

 killed himself by continually drinking water. 



The colors of the Dipsas are not brilliant, but are soft and pleasing. The general 

 tint is gray, banded with brown of different shades, sometimes deepening into black. 

 The top of the head is variegated with brown, and a dark streak runs from the eye to 

 the corner of the mouth. 



