Venoms: Venomous Animals and Antivenomous Serum-therapeutics. A. Calmette
of snakes which the Indian Government has been obliged to institute, which represent an expenditure of about £10,000 per annum.
For every 100 persons bitten, it is estimated that on an average from 25 to 30 die, and in most cases death supervenes in from two to twelve hours after the bite.
Naja bungarus, or the Hamadryad, is the largest and most formidable of poisonous snakes. It is very vigorous and very aggressive, but is more rarely met with than Naja tripudians. It loves the vicinity of rivers and streams, lives in forests and jungles, and climbs trees with facility. It feeds upon other snakes (whence its name Ophiophagus), and also on birds, fish, and small mammals.
Hindu snake-charmers assert that it is very difficult to capture, and dangerous owing to its strength; they handle it only after having extracted its poison-fangs.
A very intelligent Hindu told Torrens how he had seen the way in which the Hamadryad procures the snakes that form its favourite food. The Hindu in question happened to be on the flat roof of his house, when a young Hamadryad appeared quite close to him. The snake raised its head, expanded its neck, and emitted a shrill hissing noise. Thereupon a dozen snakes came crawling up from all directions and assembled round the Hamadryad, when the latter made a dart at one of them and hastened to devour it (Fayrer).
The Hamadryad is dreaded with good reason, for not only is it aggressive, and hurls itself boldly upon its adversary, but it also pursues him, a trait exhibited by no other poisonous snake.
Cantor relates that in Assam an officer met with several young Hamadryads which were being watched over by their mother. The latter turned towards its enemy, who took to his heels with all speed, pursued by the terrible reptile. The course taken led to a river, which the fugitive did not hesitate to swim in order to gain the opposite bank, hoping thus to make good his escape; all, however, to no purpose. The snake still pursued him, and the officer saved himself only by a stratagem. He dashed his turban on the ground; the snake threw itself upon it and savagely bit it several times, thus giving the officer time to reach a place of safety.
Cantor’s experiments show that the venom of the Hamadryad is extremely rapid in its action. A dog usually dies a quarter of an hour after being bitten, and Nicholson states that he has seen an elephant bitten by a snake of this species die in three hours.
(c) Hemibungarus.
This genus includes several species of snakes of somewhat small size, rarely exceeding 700 millimetres in length, with an elongate, cylindrical body; the head is scarcely distinct from the neck, the pupil round, and the tail short, while the nostril is situate between two nasal shields. The temporal shields are arranged in a single row. The poison-glands sometimes extend into the abdominal cavity. Scales in 13 or 15 rows; 190–260 ventrals, 12–44 subcaudals in 2 rows.
Four species belonging to this genus are known:—
(1) H. calligaster.—2 + 3 temporal scales, 6 supralabials.
Colour purple, with black transverse bands separated by narrow white bars; belly and end of tail red; snout yellow, with a black band on the upper lip below the eyes.
Total length, 520 millimetres; tail 30.
Habitat: Philippine Islands.
(2) H. collaris.—No anterior temporal scales.
Colour black on the back, with black and red bands on the belly; a yellow collar on the occiput.
Total length, 430 millimetres; tail 15.
Habitat: Philippine Islands.
(3) H. nigrescens.—Scales in 13 rows. A single temporal scale; 218–251 ventrals; 33–44 subcaudals.
Belly uniformly red; upper lip yellow in front of and behind the eyes.
Total length, 1,100 millimetres; tail 115.
Habitat: Hills of Western India, from Bombay to Travancore.
(4) H. japonicus.—Scales in 13 rows; 190–216 ventrals; 28–29 subcaudals; temporals 1 + 1.
Colour red on the back, with 1–5 black bands crossed by other black bands edged with yellow. Snout and sides of head black. Belly yellow, with large black spots alternating with black transverse bands.
Total length, 520 millimetres; tail 40.
Habitat: Loo Choo Islands.
(d) Callophis.
This genus is characterised by the maxillary bones extending forwards beyond the palatines, with a pair of large poison-fangs, but without other teeth. Head and eyes small, pupils round; nostril between two nasal shields. Body cylindrical, greatly elongate. Scales smooth, in 13 rows; ventrals rounded; subcaudals in 2 rows.
Five species are known:—
(1) C. gracilis.—Red or pale brown, with three longitudinal black lines passing through brown, or black spots; the lateral spots alternating with the vertebræ. Black and yellow bands under the tail and on the belly.
Total length, 740 millimetres; tail 35.
Habitat: Malay Peninsula, Sumatra.
(2) C. trimaculatus.—Head and nape black, with a yellow spot on each side of the occiput; belly uniform red; tail with two black rings.
Total length, 335 millimetres; tail 21.
Habitat: India and Burma.
(3) C. maculiceps.—Head and nape black, with one or two yellow bands on each side. Belly red, two black rings on the tail. Diameter of the eyes equal to two-thirds of the space separating them from the mouth.
Total length, 485 millimetres; tail 30.
Habitat: Burma, Indo-China, Malay Peninsula.
(4) C. macclellandii.—Head and neck black, with a yellow transverse band behind the eyes. The space separating the eyes equal to that separating them from the mouth. Colour reddish-brown on the back, with regular and equi-distant black streaks; belly yellow, with black bands or quadrangular spots. The head exhibits two black transverse bands separated by a yellow band.
Total length, 620 millimetres; tail 55.
Habitat: Nepal, Sikkim, Assam, Burma, Southern China.
(5) C. bibronii.—Met with by Beddome in the forests of Malabar, at an altitude of 3,280 feet. Back purplish-brown, with a pearly lustre, and about forty irregular black transverse bands, extending to the tip of the tail. Head black in front, cherry-red on the occiput.
Total length, 640 millimetres; tail 50.
Habitat: Malabar.
All the snakes belonging to the genus Callophis are remarkable for their bright and varied colours, whence the generic name, which signifies “beautiful snakes.”
They feed exclusively on other snakes belonging to the Family Calamaridæ; consequently they are not found in regions where Calamaridæ do not occur, as, for instance, in Ceylon.
They are essentially terrestrial, and live in old tree-trunks, or clefts in rocks. They are sluggish, slow-moving, and chiefly nocturnal.
As a rule they do not seek either to defend themselves or to bite; consequently fatal accidents caused by them are scarcely known in the case of human beings. Their venom, however, is very toxic to animals.
(e) Doliophis.
This genus exhibits the same characters as Callophis, except that the poison-glands, instead of being confined to the temporal region, extend a very long way on each side of the body, to about one-third of its length, gradually growing thicker and terminating at the base of the heart.