414 REPTIUA— ORDER ITL—SQVAMATA. 



As regards their biting organs, harmless snakes generally ha^ve two rows of 

 teeth in the upper, and a single row in the lower jaw, such teeth being 

 slender, sharp, and comparatively short. In some, however, either one or 

 two pairs of teeth of the outer upper series may be larger than the rest, and 

 l^rovided with a groove, or completely tubular, such a type probably always 

 indicating more or less developed noxious properties. In some of the most 

 deadly members of the sub-order, the arrangements for the injection of the 

 poison are of a more complicated nature. Here the short maxillary bones are 

 capable of being moved so as to become at right angles to the bones of the, 

 rest of the palate, while each carries a large channelled tusk, which, at the 

 moment of biting, assumes an erect position. Through this pair of tusks, or 

 fangs, the poison is conveyed from the secreting glands, which are placed 

 below and behind the eyes. In some kinds these glands are short, those of the 

 cobra being of the size of an almond ; but in others they extend far down the 

 body. Regarding the mode of operation, an Australian writer observes that 

 "the curious structure of the fang makes it almost certain that the poison 

 shall be injected under the skin. The opening of the groove is not at the 

 very tip, where it would be liable to get plugged up with skin or flesh, and so 

 prevent the passage of the poison, but a little way up from and in front of 

 this, so that the sharp point goes in iirst, and makes a little hole into which 

 the poison flows. In fact the poison fang is the model of the medical inject-- 

 ing syringe, and is exactly adapted to its purpose. The secretion of the 

 gland varies in different snakes in quantity and in quality. It is a clear 

 viscid fluid, which can retain its deadly properties for long, and does not even 

 lose them when dissolved in water or alcohol. Sir J. Fayrer, the great 

 authority on Indian snakes, found that the blood of an animal killed by snake 

 poison was itself poisonous, and he transmitted the venom through a series of 

 three animals with fatal results.'' 



It was long supposed that harmless and noxious serpents were broadly dis- 

 tinguished from one another by definite external characters, but this is now 

 known to be incorrect ; and it is only by an examination of the teeth that it 

 can be determined whether or no any particular serpent is hurtful. The 

 destruction of human life by snake-bite in India is something appalling, as 

 may be gleaned by a recent return of the Indian Government. It is there 

 stated that, whereas in 1892 the deaths caused by snake-bite in the lower 

 I)rovinces of Bengal were 9,510, in 1893 the number rose to 10,797. Though 

 the deatlis in Bengal, as might be supposed from its larger area, exceeded 

 those in the other provinces, there was apparently nothing permanent in the 

 rise, as the number fell to 9,85(3 in 1894. The decrease of mortality during 

 1894 is ascribed in Bengal and Assam to the low flood-levels, the snakes not 

 having been dislodged from their usual haunts, as happens when the water is 

 high. In Assam the mortality is the lowest recorded in the last ten years. 

 The loss of life from snake-bite was highest, in proportion to the population, 

 in Bengal, Ajmir, the North- Western Provinces, and Oudh and the Central 

 Provinces. If all the provinces be taken together, one person was killed in 

 this manner among every 10,267 of the population in 1894, as compared with 

 one in every 10,424 in 189;i. The apparent increase in Assam is ascribed to 

 more accurate i-oporting. In the Central Provinces the same explanation has 

 been offered for a continuous increase ; but the sttitistics in general are viewed 

 with distrust. The number of venomous snakes reported to have been 

 destroyed, and the rewards granted on this account shown in the return, fell 

 respectively from 117,120 to 102,210, and from Rs.12,607 to Es.10,150. 



