168 ON ANIMAL AND 



snake; as its bite is stated to be followed by 

 certain and speedy death. A near relation of 

 mine, who has passed many years in India, in- 

 formed me that he has been witness to three per- 

 sons being killed in seven minutes from its bite; 

 and we have other instances of the rapidity of this 

 most destructive poison when received into the 

 human frame a circumstance not to be wonder- 

 ed at, when we take into consideration the heat 

 of the country of which it is a native ; though the 

 effects of the poison, like that of the rattle snake, 

 will no doubt be varied by season, and by the 

 manner in which the bite be inflicted. 



This animal is from three to six feet in length, 

 and about four inches in circumference. Its head 

 is smaller in proportion to its body, than either 

 the rattle snake or the viper; having on its neck, 

 a tumor or loose mass of integument, flat and 

 covered with scales, and on the top of it, a very 

 conspicuous patch, resembling a pair of spectacles. 

 Its colour is a pale rusty brown, and beneath, a 

 bluish white tinged with yellow the tail, unlike 

 the other serpents described, tapering to a slender 

 sharply pointed extremity. Its eyes are pecu- 

 liarly shining, fierce, and bright. Its fangs, with 

 which it inflicts its deadly wound, are placed in 

 the upper jaw, and their mechanism is the same 

 as that of other venomous serpents. Like them 

 it retreats before human pursuit; but, when 

 irritated, it is much more active in its movements, 



