THE SNAKES 287 



example we may quote a paragraph appearing in the 

 London Times, September 19, 1906, thus: — 



"A statistical paper on India issued to-day shows that 

 in 1904 there were killed in that country by snakes and 

 wild beasts 24,034 persons — 21,880 by snake bites, 796 

 by tigers, 399 by leopards, and the rest by other animals. 

 The number of cattle killed was 98,582. 



"The other side of the account shows that 65,146 

 snakes and 16,121 wild animals were killed, for which 

 rewards of £7,313 were paid." 



The division of the Proteroglypha into two subfam- 

 ilies may be summarized as follows: 



Tail vertically compressed — paddle-shaped. Habits — marine. The Ht- 

 DROPHiiN^ ; Sea Snakes. 



Tail cylindrical. Habits — terrestrial or semi-aquatic. The ELAPiNiE; 

 Cobras, Kraits and their allies; the New World Coral Snakes. 



The Sea Snakes; subfamily Hydrophiince : The ser- 

 pents of this subfamily are strictly marine and very 

 poisonous. They abound in the Indian Ocean and the 

 western tropical Pacific. A single species occurs in 

 tropical waters of the New World, off the west coast of 

 Mexico, Central America and South America. 



While the existence of marine monsters, such as are 

 occasionally noted upon the logs of leisurely-moving 

 vessels, must be open to speculation, there exist many 

 species of true sea serpents; though these actual crea- 

 tures do not attain the length usually cited in the aver- 

 age newspaper yarn, exhibit the outlines of a dragon 

 or spout like a whale, thej^ grow to a fair size for snakes 

 — six to eight feet. They are, for the most part, of 

 striking coloration and provided with fangs and a venom 

 so virulent, their rank must be among the most deadly 

 of the poisonous snakes. All are viviparous. 



The species of Hydropliiince are most nearly allied to 



