CLASS I I l.-REPTILI A. 



Reptiles in Sind are neither numerous nor formidable as far as they 

 have been collected and determined. Of Land Tortoises two species 

 occur, and of the freshwater forms (Emi/didcB) only a few are known. 

 Probably most of the Gangetic and Punjab forms will be found to 

 occur on closer investigation. 



Of the Trionycidse or Freshwater Turtles, besides the Common Mud 

 Turtle, {T. Oangeticus,) three others occur; while Chelonia virgata and 

 Caouana olivacea are the only marine forms known to affect the Coast. 



The Saurians are represented by the common Crocodile (C palustris) 

 and the Gharial {G. gangeticus), while the species representing the 

 Lacertiliadse are numerous on the sandy ridges and plains. The 

 Varanidse or family of Water Lizards are nearly all represented. 



Among the Lizards the most remarkable is the one known among 

 Europeans as the Biskohra, the Khun of the Sindees. Numerous deaths 

 are attributed to it, and strangely enough believed in by not a few. 

 Collections of this lizard have been received from various part of Sind 

 and preserved in the Kurrachee Museum, and these are all Eublepharis 

 macularius et hardwickii. " Give a dog a bad name and hang him," is 

 an old proverb, and it well applies in the case of the Khun or Bis- 

 Tcobra, the' repulsive appearance of these harmless creatures no doubt 

 being the cause. There is, however, some risk attending the careless 

 handling of these lizards, when killed or freshly preserved in spirit. 

 The tubercles with which their bodies are studded contain a very 

 irritant secretion, which, coming in contact with the naked skin of the 

 back of the hand or other part of the body, occasions a numbness 

 followed by a painful swelling of that part, and subsequently a species of 

 Herpes which the natives in Sind cure by the application of a poultice 

 made of chalk paste. The Geckoes too have this irritant secretion 

 contained in the tubercles with which their bodies are studded, but in 

 a lesser degree. 



The Ophidians are familiar to and recognizable by all. They 

 inhabit either arid or moist localities, trees, &c. ; some are entirely 

 acquatic, as . the Hydrophidse or Sea Snakes. All live entirely on 

 animal food, and many, not unlike some of the other orders of the 

 animal kingdom, prey on their kind, as Btingarus cceruleus and Ophio- 

 phagus elaps ; (this last does not inhabit Sind). They are oviparous, 

 ovo-viviparous, or viviparous. Many are remarkable for the beauty 

 of their colouring and handsome markings, and although this may be 

 all the eye can desire, the want of knowledge of the innocent species 

 and the potency of the venom of some inspire dread and a general 

 aversion to the whole order. 



The popular mode of discriminating poisonous from non-poisonous 

 snakes is very erroneous, as the characters given by some writers for 



