314 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NA tURAL ElSfORt ioOlLtY, Vol. XVII 



recover after severe symptoms in 48 hours, but a fowl bitten by Hie 

 same snake the next day succumbed after 4 days. Tnese effects on 

 small animals serve to show that the poison is not very virulent. Mr. 

 Drummond Hay has written to me of two cases of bite, both in cooly 

 women. One bitten on the ankle did not suffer in the slightest once 

 she had recovered from her fright, but whether ehe was treated or net, 

 I am unable to say. The other bitten in the hand became unconscious 

 and he thought when he saw her the same night would die, hut wiih the 

 aid of stimulants had recovered by the next day. Ferguson* mentions 

 the self-related facts of a Mr. A. F. Sanderson who was bitten by one. 

 The seat of injury was the little toe. Pain was so acute as to prevent 

 sleep, and the limb swelled to the knee for 2 or 3 days, hut he recovered. 

 He treated himself by ligature above the knee, cross cuts locally with 

 the application of carbolic acid, and strong potations of brandy. 



Dimensions. — Grows to 18 inches, but I have known females adult 

 at 11^ inches, as shown by pregnancy. 



Colour. — The prevailing colours are brown variously mottled or 

 variegated, but a longitudinal series of largish oval dark spots on each side 

 of the back is a constant characteristic. The belly is finely mottled. 



Lachesis macrolepis — The Large-scaled Viper. 

 Identification.— One very distinctive feature makes the recognition 



of this snake a very simple 

 matter. The scales of the 

 last row along the body are 

 smaller than in any of the 

 other rows. In all other 

 British Indian snakes the 

 scales in this row are sub- 

 equal to, or much larger 

 than, those lying above. 



Distribution. — Confi ned 

 to the Pulney, Shevaroy, 

 and Anamallay Hills of 

 Southern India, where it 

 Fig. 26.— Lachesis macrolepis (nat. size). is plentiful at altitudes 



varying from 2,000 to 7,000 feet. 



JUt- 



* Bom. Nat. Hist. Journ., Vol. X., p. 9. 



