116 INDIAN SNAKE POISONS, 



poison-apparatus of the daboia may be looked upon as 

 an elaborate hunting weapon, as much so as the gun to 

 the sportsman. There is, however, a refinement about 

 the physiological contrivance that can either kill at once 

 by convulsions, or after an interval by paralysis, or at a 

 still more remote period by blood-poisoning, to which 

 the mechanical appliance utterly fails to attain. 



Though snake-poisons can thus, to a great extent, be 

 grouped according to the structural classification of the 

 snakes to which they belong, the evidence given shows 

 that there are distinct minor differences, even between 

 those closely allied. That these slight differences of 

 nature are related to slight differences in aim, is highly 

 probable ; but to be in a position to prove this, would 

 require a most intimate acquaintance with all the habits 

 of these reptiles in their natural state. 



