ON THE COMMON INDIAN SNAKES. 941 



appeared it is probable that the mating season is in January or 

 February. A ) 7 oung specimen of 1 foot 2 inches was sent to me 

 last year by Mr. Frere from Tharrawady (Lower Burma) killed in 

 June. 



Growth. — It appears from my notes that the young grow about 

 a foot during each of the first three years of life and the female 

 reported above would therefore be completing her third year. 



Poison. — Though this snake is a poisonous one, and common in 

 many districts there is no authentic case of toxaemia in the 

 human subject arising from its bite,* and it even seems doubtful 

 if it would prove fatal to man. Rogers by direct experiment on 

 birds fixed the lethal dose as 14 times that of cobra poison. 

 Lamb, however, estimated that it is but 7 times that of cobra 

 poison. In any case since we know that an adult cobra some- 

 times bites a man severely without injecting a lethal dose of poison, 

 it would seem improbable that a lethal dose would be delivered in 

 the bite of a snake of very similar proportions whose poison is 14 

 times or even 7 times less virulent. This conclusion seems to 

 receive confirmation by the Burmese who are a very observant race, 

 and knowledgable in Natural History matters. Most of them affirm 

 that the banded krait is not poisonous. If it were otherwise, I 

 think the Burmese of all people would be aware of it, for the snake 

 is very common in their Province. Although it is not an evily- 

 disposed snake it is difficult to believe that it is never the cause 

 of a casualty, and if it ever occasioned loss of life or even serious 

 symptoms, it is not likely to have escaped an evil reputation. Mr. 

 Muir tells me that the natives about Kalna too are very doubtful 



* Fayrer records the case of a woman at Tavoy (Thanatophidia, p. 45; who was 

 bitten on the dorsum of the foot by a snake identified as the banded krait by 

 Dr. Paul. The accident happened at 8 p.m. and beyond some local tingling and 

 swelling at the time no ill-effects were noticed, and she was discharged from the 

 hospital next day as recovered. We may assume that if any poison gained access 

 to the wound, the dose was insignificant as no toxic symptoms were noted. The 

 case quoted as such by Calmette (Venoms, Venomous animals, etc., p. 336) is obvi- 

 ously a fallacious record as this snake does not occur in Central India, the locality 

 where the casualty occurred ! The fact, too, that the original reporter says that 

 the snake which was 2S inches long was full grown, and talks of a single mark 

 made by an incisor tooth, proclaims a lamentable ignorance on his part of the 

 snakes of India, and snakes in general, since no snake has incisor teeth. 

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