ZOOLOGICAL AND ANATOMICAL CHARACTERS. 
believe that the poison does take effect on snakes of a less deadly 
character; and though I have generally seen the Bungarus 
escape, I have seen an occasional death of this snake after a 
bite by a Cobra, that, I think, might with some reason be attri¬ 
buted to the poison. The non-venomous snakes die rapidly— 
the Btyas, a large, vigorous, and fierce snake, though non-veno¬ 
mous, succumbs within an hour or so to the bite of a Cobra. 
The flesh of an animal dead from snake-poison does not seem 
to be affected ; animals and men eat it with impunity. The 
sweepers and Dhomes who attended my experiments always 
took away the poisoned fowls and ate them. 
The blood of an animal killed by snake-poison is itself 
poisonous; and if injected into an animal rapidly manifests its 
poisonous effects. I have transmitted the venom through a 
series of three animals, with fatal l’esult. I have had little or 
no opportunity of studying the local effects of the poison, death 
has always occurred so rapidly that there has been no time for 
secondary or local changes. 
The Ophidia are oviparous and viviparous. 
The colubrine snakes generally are oviparous; but there are 
exceptions, such as the Hydrophidce and Ilomcdopsidce , which are 
viviparous, producing from four to sixteen or more young ones. 
Mr. Stewart, Civil Surgeon of Pooree, tells me that he took 
sixteen eggs, with well-formed embryos, out of Idy dr op his 
cyanocincta. The eggs were as large as hen’s eggs, and the 
young embryos were six inches in length. 
The viperine snakes, as their name implies, are all viviparous. 
The distinction is not one of such great importance, as might at 
first appear. In the oviparous snakes the young are produced 
from eggs of an oblong obovate form with a soft leathery white 
shell. These, from ten to forty or fifty in number, are deposited 
in some place where the natural heat is sufficient to hatch them. 
Of all the Ophidia the Python only, according to some 
authorities, incubates; it coils itself over the eggs, and sits on 
them till they are hatched. 
The viviparous, or rather ovo-viviparous snakes produce their 
young alive. The eggs are hatched in the oviduct, develop¬ 
ment having proceeded in them to the point at which the 
delicate covering of the egg bursts before or during parturition, 
and the young ones come into the world alive, and immediately 
show all the activity of their race. A higher temperature than 
that which is natural to the Viper, in its ordinary condition, is 
necessary to effect this. The temperature of the reptile increases 
at these times, and the gravid female is said to expose herself to 
the heat by basking in the sun’s rays, at which time she is more 
sluggish and inert than on ordinary occasions. The female of 
all snakes is said to be larger than the male; there are certain 
differences in colour also which may distinguish the sexes. In 
the Hydrophidce the male is known from the female by a 
distinct swelling on each side of the tail extending from the 
root to or beyond the middle of its length. But in other 
snakes there is no certain external anatomical character to 
distinguish the sex; dissection of course reveals it. The tail 
in males is thicker than in females. Pressure on the ventral 
surface of the tail, forwards towards the vent, causes in males 
the protrusion of two vascular bodies. 
In cold and temperate climates, snakes hybernate or remain 
in a state of lethargy or torpidity. Active life is suspended 
until returning warmth rouses the vital energies into a state of 
activity. They differ much in their modes of life, habitation, 
food, &c., although they are all carnivorous, feeding on molluscs, 
insects, reptiles, birds, mammals, eggs, and milk. Vegetable 
matters have been found in the stomach, but snakes are essen¬ 
tially carnivorous, and most, if not all, take their food only 
whilst it is alive. 
Irrespective of the ordinary natural classification, snakes are 
arranged under the following heads :— 
Tree snakes: those that live for the most part in trees or 
bushes, and are characterized by their brilliant colours, gene¬ 
rally green, their slender and whip-like form, and great activity. 
Both non-venomous colubrine and viperine snakes are found in 
this section. 
Water snakes, are the salt-water and the fresh-water snakes; 
■—the first are all venomous, the second are all innocent. 
The salt-water snakes have a peculiar form adapted to their 
mode of life—a compressed tail, and nostrils above the snout; 
they are all poisonous, and many, if not all, are viviparous. 
The fresh-water snakes have the nostrils like those of the 
salt-w r ater snakes. They live in the fresh, though they may be 
found, like the others, in brackish water; they have not the 
compressed tail ; they are viviparous, and all belong to the sub¬ 
order of non-venomous Colubrines. 
Ground snakes. —Representatives are found in all the three 
sub-orders. They live generally above ground. They are 
more or less cylindrical in shape and very flexible in body. 
The greater number of snakes are found in this section. 
Burroicing snakes , live much under ground; have a rigid 
cylindrical body, short tail, narrow mouth, and small teeth. No 
ventral shields; they are all innocuous. 
The Thanatophidia, as already stated, comprise the two sub¬ 
orders, Ophidii Colubriformes Venenosi, and Ophidii Viperi- 
formes, which are represented in India, the former by the Elapidce 
and Hydrophidce; the latter by the Crotaliace and Viperidce. In 
these families the most deadly snakes are found, 
A few words on the characteristics of each of the sub-orders 
and their sub-divisions as found in Bengal. 
The members of the poisonous colubrine sub-order are dis¬ 
tinguished by their form, which is like that of the innocuous 
snakes, and by the formation of the maxillary bone, which 
though shorter than that of the harmless snakes, is much 
longer and less moveable than that of the Vipers. The poison 
fang is shorter and less moveable than that of the Viper owing 
to the comparative immobility of the maxillary bone, with 
which it is anchylosed. The canal through which the poison 
flows is less developed in the poisonous Colubrines than in the 
Vipers, and in the Hydrophidce it is actually an open groove. 
The maxillary bone also in some cases bears other teeth besides 
the poison fang. 
The snakes of the sub-order Viperidce are distinguished by 
their broad head, as well as by the small, very mobile maxillary 
bone, to which is anchylosed a long perforated poison fang. 
There are other less important distinctions, which will be 
noticed in describing genera and species. It may be briefly 
noticed that the general characters of a viperine or a colubrine 
snake are easily recognised. The formation of the maxillary 
bone and the dentition are certain guides in distinguishing one 
from the other. 
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