46 
POPULAE SCIENCE EEYIEW. 
I 
THE POISONOUS SNAKES OF INDIA. 
By Peofessoe J. EEAY GEEENE, B.A., M.D. 
[PLATE XCIV.] 
N O animals are so abhorrent to most persons as are snakes. 
Their lurking habits and insidious approach, their 
anomalous aspect, their movements effected without the aid of 
limbs, above all their venom, usually excite feelings of disgust 
and apprehension. Yet the study of snakes attracts us, as 
snakes themselves are said to fascinate their victims. The 
biblical stories of the serpent beguiling Eve and of St. Paul’s 
miraculous escape from a poisonous snake at Melita, the famous 
myth of the sea-serpent, the worship of snakes in the East, the 
tricks of the snake-charmers — these, with other such-like tradi- 
tions and customs, tend further to enhance its interest. Of 
animals directly formidable to man, none, beyond the limits of 
his own species, are so deadly as the poisonous snakes. Against 
their silent and sudden attack he guards himself with difficulty. 
Against their wounds he can seldom find a remedy. 
Serpents more especially interest the zoologist because of 
their form, their mode of progression, and their mode of 
swallowing their prey. They show numerous points of 
structure obviously related to these peculiarities, besides other 
and not less remarkable anatomical characters which cannot 
be so explained. 
Though not the highest, serpents ought perhaps to be re- 
garded as the most specialised of reptiles ; a class, next to 
fishes, notable for the diversity of the organisms which it 
includes. They are also the latest reptiles in time. The 
earth was already peopled with lizards, crocodilians and tor- 
toises ; ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, pterodactyles, iguanodonts 
and other strange mesozoic reptiles, had come and gone — before 
serpents made their appearance. 
Most serpents are inhabitants of the tropics. They are less 
abundant in sub-tropical and temperate regions. No American 
species is found beyond 60° of north latitude. The most 
