ON THE COMMON INDIAN SNAKES. 945 



degree that is really necessary seems to me a dangerous proceeding 

 for the layman to adopt, a better plan is to destroy the bitten part 

 freely with red hot iron, or nitric acid and subseqixently to apply 

 permanganate. 



Fables. — Mr. E. Muir tells me that about Kalna it is said to 

 have two mouths, one at the caudal extremity, and is reputed to 

 be able to move forwards or backwards. Also that it is said to 

 make a noise like the bellowing of a cow, which reminds me of 

 the traveller Chateaubriand's description of a S. American snake he 

 had met which when approached became flat, appeared of different 

 colours, hissed like a mountain eagle and bellowed like a bull ! 



Uses. — The same informant says that the bones are sometimes 

 made into necklaces, and worn by Hindus. 



Parasites. — Entozoa of several kinds infest this snake. I have 

 found two distinct nematode worms in the stomach which were 

 identified by Professor Von Linstow* as Kalicejihalus ivilleyi-\, and 

 larval and immature forms of an Ascaris. One of these, I forget 

 which, anchors itself to the coats of the stomach and is found 

 attached there after death, but the other is free, and though I 

 believe inhabits this organ exclusively in life is often found to 

 have wandered into the intestine after death, or into the gullet, and 

 mouth. The Pterocercus or larval form of a tape worm, which Von 

 Linstow suggests may be harboured in its adult form by birds of 

 prey that devour snakes, is a very frequent parasite in the intestine. 

 A ftmrth parasite is the linguatulid Porocephalus crotali\, a maggot- 

 like, whitish animal half to three-quarters of an inch long, which 

 attaches itself by four hooks to the mesenteric tissues, and does 

 not enter organs. 



Distribution.— The Mahanadi Basin, Eastern half of the Ganges 

 System, Brahmaputra, and Irrawadi-Salween Basins, through 

 Indo-China to South China in the East, and through the Malayan 

 Peninsula to the Archipelago as far East as Java. Within our 

 Indian Dominions it is a common snake in Burma, Assam and 



* Record, Ind. Mus., Vol. II, Part 1, p. 109. 



t Spol. Zeylan, Vol. I, p. 99. 



X Bombay N. H. Journal, Vol. XIX, p. 837. 



