102 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XIV. 



in contact (as in fig. 8) 

 separates. Hamad- 

 ryad {Naia hungarus) Poisonous. 

 d-^\ Scales more than 13 — 

 count as before (as 



shown in fig. 10) Harmless. 



6^. Scales 13 only 



c6'\ 2 pairs of chin shields 

 (as in iig. 13 A. C. 



andP.C.) 



a^. Round pupil (as in 

 fig. 1). Includes 

 the genera Cailo- 

 phis and Adenio- 



phis Poisonous. 



b'' . Vertical pupil (as 



in fig. 7, but not 



so pronounced, so 



look carefully) ... Harmless. 



h^. One pair of chin shields 



only (compare with 



fig. 13) Harmless, 



Before closing these remarks I would point out that fright will 

 produce symptoms so serious, and so closely resembling the toxic effects 

 of snake poison that even medical men may find it impossible to say 

 how far the condition of collapse is duo to fright or poison, and there- 

 fore should the key lead one to the opinion that a harmless snake has 

 inflicted a bite and serious symptoms supervene, it must not be 

 taken that the key has misled. I have known several instances of 

 this kind, in the most notable of which a man bitten by a Tropidonotus 

 piscator, or common paddy field snake, at 7 a.m. on the morning of 

 the 9th June, 1899, at Rangoon, shortly became moribund, and 

 remained so till about 12 noon on the 10th June (17 hours). The snake 

 was captured alive and identified by me, and the man as was to be 

 expected, recovered. 



Hongkong, Ath November 1900. 



