76 
REPTILIA. 
new family, Nothopidce, allied to Xenodermus. Teeth on all the usual hones 
of the mouth, wanting on the premaxillary. Maxillary teeth of equal 
length, entire. Head flat, oval, moderately distinct j body and tail com- 
pressed. Urosteges in two rows, anal shield entire ; gastrosteges narrow, 
angulate, the ends crossed hy a longitudinal groove j pupils round. Head 
covered with small scales above, except a pair of internasals in contact with 
nasals and rostral j an isolated median frontal, and a pair of small oval occi- 
pitals, each also entirely surrounded by small scales. A single nasal pierced 
by the nostrils ; loreals like other head-scales, orbits surrounded by scales, 
labials not pitted. One pair of geneials. Scales of body subequal, keeled, 
without apical pores. — N. rugosus, sp. n., pi. 17. Scales in 29 rows. Isthmus 
of Daiien. 
Venomous Snakes. 
Fayrer, j. The Thanatophidia of India: being a description 
of the Venomous Snakes of the Indian Peninsula j with an 
account of the influence of their poison on life, and a series 
of experiments. London: 1872, fol. pp. 1 56, with 31 coloured 
plates. 
This work is divided into five sections. In the first a descrip- 
tive account is given of the venomous snakes of India, whicli, 
as the author himself says, is compiled from the researches of 
other herpetologists, so that we may at once pass to section 2, 
which contains statistical returns of the deaths by snake-bite 
that have occurred in the Bengal Presidency. He shows that 
snakes cause a terrible destruction of human life ; and therefore 
it is all the more to be regretted that he is obliged to leave the 
question of the ti’eatment of snake-bite, discussed in the third 
section of the work, exactly as it was. In section 4 the circum- 
stances of a number of snake-bites are narrated, and in section 5 
a great number of experiments on the influence of snake-poison 
on animals described. Of the conclusions arrived at we would 
draw attention to the following: — 1. After death from poison- 
ing by a Colubrine snake the blood nearly always firmly coagu- 
lates on removal from the body ; after death by Viperine poison 
it remains permanently fluid. 2. It has been noted that cats 
resist the influence of the poison almost as long as dogs three 
or four times their size. 3. The poisonous snakes are not 
aftccted by their own poison j a cobra may bite itself or another 
cobra with impunity. 4. Snake-poison is absorbed and fatal in 
its action if it be applied to a mucous or serous membrane, to 
the stomach, or the conjunctiva. 5. Bodies of animals poisoned 
by snakes are eaten with impunity by man and animals. 6. The 
blood of an animal killed by snake-poison is itself poisonous. 
The species figured will be mentioned subsequently. 
Naja tripudians figured in Fayrer’s ‘ Thanatophidia,’ pis. 1-6. 
Ophiophagus elaps figured in Fayrer’s ‘ Thanatophidia,’ pis. 7 & 8. 
