534 SNAKES OF CEYLON. 



(p. 137) : " I may remind the reader that the Echis carinata 

 is a very active and fierce little viper, very aggressive, 

 minaceous, and irascible .... in striking the head 

 was always erect, and the whole aspect and attitude was that 

 of intense malice and mischief. 5 ' 



Mr. Millard alludes to the peculiar movement adopted by 

 this viper in causing the friction of its scales, thus : " it has 

 a curious habit of revolving in almost the figure 8 with its head 

 always in the centre/' Fayrer's* plate shows the attitude 

 referred to by Mr. Millard very well. 



The hissing noise and its production are among the most 

 interesting features connected with this snake. From four to 

 seven of the costal series above the penultimate row are 

 peculiarly oblique. In these rows, and these only, the keels 

 are serrated, and when the sides of the body rub against one 

 another, the teeth on the opposing faces scrape together, 

 producing a noise so like hissing, that the onlooker ignorant 

 of the method in which the sound is really produced, may 

 well be deceived. The volume of sound is doubtless very 

 greatly intensified by the habit this snake possesses in 

 common with many others of inflating itself under excitement. 

 The result is the production of a column of imprisoned air 

 within, "which in this case acts as a resonant chamber. In 

 Delhi I frequently saw a heap of these creatures alive in a 

 ghurrah, brought to Major Dennys when he was collecting 

 poison for the Indian Government some years ago . When the 

 lid was lifted, several of these creatures, would excite them- 

 selves, and begin rubbing their flanks, with the result that the 

 sound produced reverberating within the pot, sounded not at 

 all unlike that of a boiling kettle, the effect being distinctly 

 uncanny as no issue of steam accompanied it, and the chattj 7 

 was cold. 



(d) Nocturnal or Diurnal : It appears to be completely 

 diurnal. I have very frequently seen it moving in the day- 

 time, or reclining in lazy apathy with its head and part of its 

 body issuing from some hole or similar retreat. It is always 

 seemingly on the alert. I have at times too found it abroad 

 under cover of darkness. 



* Thanatophidia of India, Plate XII. 



