554 JOURNAL, BOMBAF NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXII. 



I have made no special observations on entozoa, but it is pretty- 

 certain that both nematodes, and cestodes, similar to those in other 

 snakes, inhabit the alimentary canal. 



A parasite known by the name of Hcemogregorina najce is known 

 to inhabit the blood. 



The fangs. — In Chamber's Encylopsedia the article on the cobra 

 says that its fang is not canalicnlate, but grooved. Mr. Boulenger 

 too in his catalogue refers to the fangs as being grooved 

 and they are shown with a deficiency in the anterior wall in the 

 fio-ures in Fayrer's and other works. This is most certainly not 

 correct. The fact that there is an indistinct line on the anterior 

 face of the fang does not affect the question of its being canaliculate. 

 The line referred to is a seam which marks the spot where the 

 circumflexed walls of the canal meet and blend. There is a con- 

 siderable opening at the base of this seam and a much smaller one 

 near its point, where the poison finds exit. It is not generally 

 known that it was this beautifully specialised instrument in the 

 jaws of a poisonous snake, that led a medical man to design the 

 "surgical instrument used so freely in these days in the form of the 

 hypodermic needle. 



The cobra's fang is relatively small compared with viperine fangs, 

 and is a much more solid and stronger weapon. The length of my 

 largest cobra fang is 7 mm, and was taken from a large 

 adult. The length of the fangs in a fifteen inch JEcJiis * in my 

 collection is 5 mm., and those in a 3 feet 4 inch viper (Lachesis 

 anamallensis) are 13 mm. My largest hamadryad {N. Ucngarus) 

 measuring 11 feet 5 inches had fangs 10 mm. in length. 



There are iisually two fully operative fangs fixed in each maxilla, 

 but these are shed singly at intervals, and from Fayrer's experiments 

 18 days was the shortest period that elapsed between drawing them, 

 and the fixation of a new one. 



The poison gland. ■\ — This organ, which is really a salivary gland, 

 and the analogue of the parotid gland in mammals including man, 

 consists of a body and a neck. The body is much the shape and 

 size of an almond, and consists of (1) a thick fibrous capsule or 

 jacket, (2) the glandular or poison secreting substance proper, 

 and (3) a duct running centrally in the long axis of the gland. The 

 capsule gives off numerous fibrous septa which pass into the glan- 

 dular substance and divides the gland into numeroxis chambers or 

 pockets (the poison lakes of Bobeau). Each pocket is lined with 



* This was prepared from the snake that fatally bit an Europeai), whose case 

 was published in this Journal (Vol. XIX, p. 226.) 



•j- 1 am indebted to Dr. Pearson, the Director of the Colombo Museum, for per- 

 mission to incorporate the plate herein produced, which appeared in Spolia 

 Zey'anica, Vol. IX, Part XXXIII, and illustrated the interesting description ol: 

 the gland that accompanied it from the pen of Dr. Bobeau. My remarks on the 

 gland are largely drawQ from this source. 



