74 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XI. 



Mr. Mountford observes : — ■ 



" This snake is common in the desert in Upper Sind. The large 

 specimen is not supposed to be anything out of the way, as they are 

 said to reach six feet commonly.* 



The natives call them e ' Pyan" (pronounced pee-un), meaning, 

 " a drinker, " being the same as the word " to drink." The snake is 

 said to suck a man's breath while he sleeps, the result being that he dies 

 at sunrise with a swollen face, but no mark of a bite on him. The 

 belief is entertained by all the natives here, educated or uneducated. 

 ISTo one will sleep on the ground in the desert at this time of the year 

 [September] through fear of the " Pyan." 



'■ The snake lives at the roots of small bushes, some four feet or so 

 down, and has frequently, so I am told, been found with the " junndi " 

 (Echis carinatus) in its stomach. The natives admit that it can bite, 

 if necessary, and fatally too, but it hardly ever does." 



* The largest Bungarus cceruleus in the British Museum measures 1,080 millimetres (=3£ 

 feet.)— G.A.B. 



