MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 521 



might be caused by the pollen of flowers, and sure enough on the applica- 

 tion of a damp rag, the chestnut came off showing it was not permanent, 

 and so my new White-eye turned out to be only the Indian ones with 

 discoloured foreheads. 



H. H. HARINGTON, Major, 

 Mandalay, 22nd July 1910. 92nd Punjabis. 



No. XVII.— THE IMPORTANCE OF CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING 

 POISONOUS SNAKES. 



A member of our Society has communicated to our Honorary Secretary a 

 snake-bite casualty of special interest, as the snake was believed to be a 

 krait, the injuries sustained treated under this belief, the symptoms were of 

 a nature sufficient to impress most people with the idea that the patient 

 was suffering from severe ophitoxsemia, and in reality the offender proved 

 to be a snake of an innocent character. 



The bitten subject, a cooly woman in Chanda (C. P.), aged 22, was bitten 

 by a snake in two places on the middle of the middle right finger. Twenty- 

 five minutes later she was brought to a dispensary, where the subordinate 

 in charge believing the snake which bad been killed and accompanied her, 

 was a krait, applied a ligature, freely incised the wounds, rubbed in crystals 

 of permanganate of potash, and injected two doses of antivenene 80 c.c. 

 each. She complained of burning pain in the band and arm which later 

 became numb, thirst, and vomitted twice. Half an hour later, she was coma- 

 tose with respirations 30 per minute, and a weak pulse of 120, which later 

 became imperceptible, and swallowing was reported as impossible. After 

 lying unconscious for oj hours, with brief intervals of consciousness, she 

 revived, asked for water, drank, and then slept soundly to awake next day 

 quite well, except for burning pain and numbness in the hand and arm. 



Fortunately the snake was killed, and our correspondent had it placed in 

 a bottle, and sent it to the Honorary Secretary, when it proved on examin- 

 ation to be the harmless Wolf snake (Lycodon aulicus). The notes of the 

 case were supplied by the Hospital Assistant who attended the case. 



The symptoms — vomitting, collapse with weak pulse, and incapability to 

 swallow (not a genuine paralysis) are all to be attributed to an attack of 

 syncope, in the main due to fright, but probably aggravated by the pain 

 occasioned by the surgical wounds, and the burning of the permanganate. 



Had the snake not been killed, this casualty like so many others would 

 probably have been reported as another case of snake-poisoning cured by 

 antivenene or permanganate of potash. It is a pity that every case of 

 snake-bite known to our members is not similarly reported, especially when 

 the snake, as in this instance, is available for trustworthy identification. 



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

 Chitral. \Wi May 1910. Major, i.m.s. 



