52 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XVJJ . 



In Volume XIV of the Bombay Natural History Society's Journal 

 I wrote a paper on the distinguishing characters between poisonous and 

 non-poisonous snakes, and appended a key in which I attempted to 

 frame easy rules for their separation. This key far from satisfied me 

 at the time, its length and complexity detracting from its practical 

 value ; however, in spile of its shortcomings it has been favorably 

 received, and I have been repeatedly asked for spare copies till my stock 

 is exhausted. Recently the Inspector-General of Civil Hospitals in the 

 Central Provinces wrote asking if he might circulate this paper in his 

 Province, and the compliment conveyed in this request has caused me to 

 revise it. Since its publication, in 1901, I have examined many 

 hundreds of snakes collected by myself and others as well as large 

 collections in various institutions, including the British Museum, and 

 I am, therefore, now better qualified to deal with this subject. As a 

 result I find that I can simplify and curtail the original key so as to 

 considerably enhance its practical utility. 



The good reception accorded to this first brief paper has prompted 

 me to extend my remarks, so that in the present paper I propose to 

 deal in detail with every known poisonous snake within our Indian 

 possessions. The easy identification of these is my first object, and one 

 which I hope to assist by means of outline drawings, but I hope to 

 do more, and to incorporate with each species a few remarks so as to 

 make the paper useful to the medical profession as well as to the 

 naturalist. 



The abbreviations marked on the shields in the outline figures attach- 

 ed to these papers are the same throughout, and read as follows : — 



