7Q JO VENA L, BOMB A Y NA TUBAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. X 



on the liills also. In confinement it does not appear to thrive. If 

 disturbed, it swells its body and emits a very loud hissing. I have 

 known several cases of dogs attracted by the sound attacking the 

 snake and falling victims to their temerity. 



Ancistrodon hypnale. — Not common and only found on the hills. 

 Mr. A. F. Sanderson, who was bitten by one of these snakes in 1876, 

 has given me the following account of the circumstance : — 



" I had just gone to bed and was half asleep when, in turning over, 

 I put my foot down on the blanket, which was folded up at the foot 

 of the bed, and felt a prick on my little toe. I thought it might 

 have been a pin, or thorn, and did not rise at once, but as it began to 

 pain I got a light and found a small snake coiled upon the floor Just 

 below where the blanket had been ; so I got a stick and 'jobbed ' him. 

 Then I tied a handkerchief tight round my leg above the knee and 

 drank as much strong brandy and water as I could. The pain con- 

 tinued all night so that I got no sleep, and the leg up to the knee was 

 very much swollen and continued so for two or three days, during 

 which time I could not put my foot to the ground. I forgot to say 

 that, as soon as I knew it was a snake-bite, I made two cuts, crossing 

 each other, on the wound and dropped a little carbolic acid into it. I 

 sent the snake to Frank Bourdillon who sent it home and afterwards 

 told me its name." 



Mr. Bourdillon when he left Travancore gave me his copy of 

 " Theobald's Keptiles of India," in which he has noted marginally that 

 it was this snake that bit Mr, Sanderson in September, 1876. 



Trimeresurus anamallensis. — A common snake on the hills, variable 

 in colour changing with the seasons, being quite light in the dry season 

 and with faint markings, while in the wet it is dark and the markings 

 are clearly defined. 



Baron J. Von Rosenberg was once bitten by one of these snakes on 

 the High Range. He has given me the following account : — 



"I did not notice that I had been bitten. The men walking 

 behind me said, ' Hulloa ! that snake nearly bit you. ' I had shoes on 

 at the time. 1 walked on ten miles and then sat out for an hour looking 

 out for bison. I had felt no pain so far. On getting up I found 

 I could not stand, and my foot swelled up so rapidly that I had to 

 slice off the shoe. It was half as big as my head when I got back to 



