THE HABITS OF MALAY REPTILES. 2038 
treating the bite with permanganate of potash, he very soon got 
better and was well in a couple of hours. __In fact the bite was 
no worse than that of a centipede. A good sized pariah dog 
was bitten on the thigh by a full grown and large sized green 
viper. The wound bled a good deal, and the dog uttered a cry 
and ran off, but in an hour or two it reappeared none the worse. 
I have also seen two cases in which coolies stated they had been 
bitten by green vipers, and in one certainly saw the snake (also 
a young one), which was said to have bitten the man, but in 
neither case were there any of the serious symptoms of snake 
bite ; and as the green viper when it bites holds on tight for some 
time, and does not merely strike without closing his mouth as the 
cobra does, it must inject a good quantity of the saliva into the 
wound ; wherefore I conclude the animal is not as deadly as it is 
reputed to be. Fayrer in ‘‘ Thanatophidia ” in writing of Z. grami- 
neus quotes from Russell and Blyth, both of whom had seen cases 
of men bitten by green vipers who merely suffered from pain 
and swelling and recovered, and Russell, experimenting with the 
poison of this species, found that it killed birds, but that pigs and 
dcegs recovered, so that it may be doubted that any of these 
vipers are truly deadly. JZ. Waglerz lives very well in captivity, 
and is quite gentle and very sluggish. Young animals live chiefly 
on geckos, the bigger ones eat rats and birds, and it is surprising 
what large rats they will eat. I have given one a large dead rat 
with its arms stretched stiffly owt and quite rigid, but the viper 
managed to swallow it quite easily getting the sides of its mouth 
round the projecting arms most skilfully. 
The other green coloured viper (Lachesis gramineus) of a 
plain green colour with a reddish tip to its tail, was apparently 
much more common in Singapore formerly than it is now, for 
while looking over the collection of serpents in the British Mu- 
seum I noticed that there were many specimens of this snake, all 
from early collectors, and very few L. Wagieri. Now, however, 
LL. gramineus is quite rare. I have only met with one or two, 
while Z. Wagleri is, as I have said, very common. 
The purple viper Z. purpureo-maculatus, not a very plen- 
tiful snake, seems always to reside on the sea-shore, hiding under 
rocks or basking in the sun. It is of a very deep purple brown 
colour, nearly black. I have caught it on the shore at Toas, and 
