808 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XVII, 



behind the head, are 25 ; midbody 23; and 2 heads-lengths before the vent 21. 

 I also notice, what I omitted to note in the first specimen, tbat the supra- 

 caudals, which are arranged in odd rows, show considerable enlargement of 

 the vertebral row as is the case in the kraits where the subcaudals are entire. 



Mr. Ingram has added much to the interest of this snake by having inter- 

 viewed an Arab who had been bitten by it about 5£ hours previously. I 

 quote from his letter : "There were marks of two very small punctures on 

 the inner side of the proximal joint of the right thumb * * s The thumb, 

 hand, and wrist were very slightly, but perceptibly swollen at that time. 

 There was no discolouration, and there appeared to me to be no effect beyond 

 this either locally or systematically. He said that the pain had been very severe 

 very soon after the bite, and had radiated right up the arm to the shoulder 

 and neck, and that there was a swelling in the armpit at first which had sub- 

 sequently subsided. The only treatment he had used was garlic locally, and 

 internally." The next day all the pain had gone. It would be unwise to 

 infer from this case that the snake is not mortal to man, for even bites from 

 our most poisonous species such as the cobra yield very variable results, the 

 effects being sometimes trivial though there may be every appearance in the 

 local wounds to anticipate the worst consequences. 



F. WALL, Captain, i.m.s., c.m.z.s. 



Fyzabad, 2Uh July 1906. 



No. IV.— NOTE ON THE BREEDING OF RUSSELL'S VIPER (VIPER A 

 RUSSELLI) IN CAPTIVITY. 



On three occasions lately Russell's -vipers have produced young in the cages 

 of the Laboratory and it may be worth while to record particulars of these 

 occurrences. 



On the first occasion, the viper was received from How rah on the 9 th of 

 April 1904, and gave birth to 25 young on the 7th of June 1904. These were 

 very active and the floor of the snake-room appeared alive with wriggling 

 forms when the door was opened in the morning. A few egg-cases were 

 noticed in the mother's cage split longitudinally like a bivalve shell. 



The second viper was caught in the compound of the Old Government 

 House in which the Laboratory is situated en the 6th Decmber 1905, and 

 on the 21st June 1906 gave birth to nine eggs, four of which contained living 

 vipers. 



The third viper was received from Wardha on the 31st of March 1906, and 

 on the 9th of July 1906 gave birth to 15 eggs, seven of which contained living 

 .vipers. 



The second of these vipers happened to be in a glass-sided case, so the 

 extrusion of the eggs and subsequent exit of one of the vipers therefrom was 

 witnessed by Corporal J. Scott, European Assistant in the Laboratory. We 

 witnessed the other eggs being extruded, but they did not contain vipers. 



