1897.] MR. A. THOMSOWa REPORT (W THE INSECT- HOITSE. 295 



apply the tei'm desmognatbous to those birds, it must be on 

 the understanding that \t is a different kind of thing from the 

 desmognathism of — say — the Anseres. 



March 2, 1897. 

 Dr. W. T. Blanford, F.E.S., V.P., in the Chair. 



The Secretary exhibited two examples of a new Viper, recently 

 discovered by Capt. A. H. McMahon during the Survey of the 

 Indo-Persian frontier, and named EristicopJiis macmalioni, gen. 

 et sp. nov., by Dr. Alcock. The following notes on its habits, sent 

 to the Society by the discoverer along with the specimens, were 

 read : — 



" "We found this snake in the sandy portions only of the desert 

 lying between IVushki and Persia. While lying still on the sand 

 it is almost impossible, even in the brightest light, to distinguish it 

 from the sand on which it lies. During the daytime it appeared 

 to be fond of burying its body in the soft sand, leaving its head 

 only exposed on the surface. We never noticed it to make any 

 sound in the daytime, but at night whenever we approached one 

 of them, even at a distance of many yards off, it used to make a 

 loud deep hissing sound — an angry deep sound, unlike the crisp 

 hiss of Ecliis carinata, the hiss of the cobra, or any other snake 

 I have ever heard. It evidently hisses from deep do\^-n in the 

 throat, for I have failed ever to detect any muscular movement 

 such as the EcJiis makes when it rustles its scales together to 

 produce a hissing sound. 



" It apparently never attempts to escape, and lies still, liissing 

 away, if at night, until killed, or until the intruder passes by, or is 

 out of sight or hearing, as the case may be. In the daytime these 

 snakes are consequently hard to find, and even at night, loud as they 

 hiss, it is difficult to detect them on the sand. The larger of the 

 two specimens I gave you (the largest, in fact, of all those we found) 

 very nearly bit my horse one night, when, trusting to the bright 

 moonhght to enable me to distinguish its outline, I had ridden 

 too close to where the hissing sound proceeded from. These 

 snakes are very difficult to secure without injuring them as 

 specimens. Even light blows with a thin stick will cut the skin 

 and disfigure the specimen. The smaller but more perfect of the 

 two specimens I sent you was captured alive, and thus escaped 

 injury. 



" Their fragile skins and soft bodies are, I presume, due to their 

 living always in very soft sand." 



A series of specimens of various Insects reared in the Insect- 

 house in the Society's Gardens in 1896 was exhibited, and the 

 following report on the subject drawn up by Mr. Arthur Thomson, 

 the Society's Head Keeper, was read : — 



