638 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXII. 



probably grew round here bat the snake always had to find it, a story 

 most of us have heard before from snake-charmers. I begged for a piece 

 of this and he kindly gave me two pieces as well as two pieces of a porous 

 substance which he told me was to be applied to the wound in the event 

 of a bite. 



To return to the performance, I noticed, first of all, that the snake 

 seemed to show very little spirit or " animus" when striking at the per- 

 former. Indeed his lunges in the direction of the man appeared to me to 

 be more of a threatening nature, as if to say, " be careful or I will bite 

 you." Secondly, I remarked that its blows never actually went home. On 

 one or two occasions I could not see the finish of the blow ; but, as a rule, 

 when the snake struck, the old man gently turned the blow aside with his 

 open hand in exactly the way one turns a lunge from a sabre in fencing. 

 This parrying was not so noticeable on the second day, when the snake 

 seemed less inclined to strike than at the first performance. Thirdly, I 

 remarked that the snake never opened its mouth at all widely as if to 

 inflict a real bite but merely lunged with its mouth slightly open. I can- 

 not account for the snake's docile behaviour when the Burman put his face 

 against its face and when he licked its nose and took other familiarities 

 with it, nor can I explain how it was taught to lunge close over the back 

 of his neck when he crouched beside it. To sum up, I arrived at the 

 conclusion that the snake was utterly cowed. It had, I presume, sufl'ered 

 in the extraction of its fangs, and this operation coupled perhaps with its 

 subsequent treatment, had induced in it a sense of impotence resulting in 

 its never striking home and inflicting a wound. 



Finally, it would be interesting to know whether the extraction of the 

 fangs had any direct efi'ect on the secretion of the poison in the poison 

 glands, or stopped the flow of poison into the mouth by blocking up the 

 duct by inflammation or in any other way, or whether the poison was in its 

 mouth but sufliciently diluted with saliva to be innocuous for the time 

 being, but I had no means of investigating these questions. I should 

 mention that both performances were very closely watched by my wife and 

 myself from a distance of four yards, and that on the second occasion 

 there were two other gentlemen present not to mention servants. The 

 snake was an undoubted hamadryad of the distinctly banded variety and 

 measured over twelve feet in length and over ten inches in girth. 



F. E. W. VENNING, Captain. 



Pyawbwe, 25th September 1913. 



No. XXXIV.— VARIETIES OF BEMIBUNGARUS NIGRESCENS 

 AND HTDROPHIS TORQUATUS. 



IIeinibun(jarus nic/rescens. 



An unusual specimen was collected by Father Dreckmann, S.J., at Khan- 

 dalla. It is aberrant in having an entire aual shield, but is otherwise 

 normal in lepidosis. Ventrals 244. Subcaudals 38. If not a melanotic 

 specimen it deserves recognition as a colour variety, and I would suggest 

 the name khandallensis for it. Dorsally it is uniform blackish. A lightish 

 temporal oblique streak, and a similarly coloured nuchal bar alone relieve 

 the dorsal colouration. The belly is coral red. As far as I can ascertain 

 it has only once before been recorded North of Goa, viz., at Karwar 

 (Phipson. Bomb. Nat. Hist. Jourl., Vol. II, p. 248). 



HydropJiis torquatus. 



An interesting melanotic specimen of this snake was found by Father 

 Dreckmann, S.J., in Back Bay, Bombay. In lepidosis it fully agrees with 



