The object of this work is to supply a want I have often heard expressed—that of reliable information on 
the Venomous Snakes of India. 
Beyond the pale of science but little is known on the subject of Ophiology, and though the information 
contained in the great works of Gunther, Jan, and others is very ample, it is not generally available. In 
India, at least, their works are very seldom met with. 
The most vague ideas prevail as to the properties of the Ophidia ; the most innocent are confounded with 
the most deadly, and this ignorance is not confined to the nature of the snakes themselves, but extends to the 
effects of their poison and those of the reputed antidotes. India has a large share of Ophidia; about twenty 
families with numerous genera and species being known to naturalists. Of these only four families are 
poisonous, but among them are some of the most deadly snakes. I have endeavoured to illustrate all the 
principal forms, and to give a description of each, including an account of the action of its poison on Man and 
the lower animals. The annual mortality from snake-bite in India is very great, and if a more extended 
knowledge of these reptiles and their habits should tend in any way to its diminution, my principal aim in 
producing the work would be accomplished. 
There is no pretension to novelty in the description of the characters of the snakes. 
The classifications and definitions are chiefly taken from, or based on, Gunther, or other authors of repute 
the anatomical descriptions from Owen and Huxley, and to these authorities I make my acknowledgments for 
much valuable information, remarking at the same time that I have carefully verified their descriptions by 
comparison with, and by careful dissections of the snakes themselves. Close observation of the principal 
Indian forms of poisonous snakes during life, for a period of more than three years, enables me to confirm 
their accuracy, and occasionally to supplement with additional facts. 
In that part of the work where the experiments are described, I believe I have added something to our 
previous knowledge both of the action of the poison and of the effects of remedies ; on the whole, I trust I have 
gathered together an amount of information on the subject of the poisonous snakes of India that may be 
generally useful. 
In collecting materials I have been much indebted to the several Governments ; to Dr. Murray the head 
of the Medical Department, and to the officers by whose permission, and through whose aid, I have’ obtained 
the return of deaths during the year 1869, as well as details of cases of snake-bite, and other information. 
1 would express my thanks to those gentlemen who have assisted me in my investigations and been present 
at the experiments. To Dr. J. Anderson, Curator of the Indian Museum, Dr. F. Stoliczka, Mr. W. Blanford, 
and Mr. V. Ball, of the Geological Survey, I am under great obligation for much valuable information, and for 
