I was favoured by J. W. Grant, Esq. of the Hon. Company's civil service, with an interesting description of a gigantic hooded Serpent he had observed in the upper provinces, and which, he remarked, was not a Naja. By inspection this gentleman denied the Hamadryas to be identical with the above-mentioned.

"The natives describe another hooded Serpent, which is said to attain a much larger size than the Hamadryas, and which, to conclude from the vernacular name, Mony-choar, is, perhaps, another nearly allied species.

"The fresh poison of the Hamadryas is a pellucid, tasteless fluid, in consistence like a thin solution of gum arabic in water; it reddens slightly litmus paper,* which is also the case with the fresh poison of the Cophias viridis, Vipera elegans, Naja tripudians, Bungarus annularis, and Bungarus cæruleus: when kept for some time it acts much stronger upon litmus, but after being kept it loses considerably, if not entirely, its deleterious effects.

"From a series of experiments upon living animals, the effects of this poison come nearest to those produced by that of the Naja tripudians, although it appears to act less quickly. The shortest period within which this poison proved fatal to a fowl, was fourteen minutes; whilst a dog expired in two hours eighteen minutes after being bitten. It should, however, be observed, that the experiments were made during the cold season of the year."

A specimen of the present genus, Hamadryas, is in the

"M. Schlegel asserts, the venom is 'ni alcalin, ni acide,' neither alkaline, nor acid. The only way in which I can account for this mistake from a man who ranks among the first erpetologists, is by supposing that M. Schlegel himself never had an opportunity of testing the poison of a living Serpent; for besides the five above-mentioned genera of Indian venomous Serpents, I found the fresh poison of different species of marine Serpents (Hydrus) to possess the property of turning litmus paper red. The same fact with the Rattlesnake (Crotalus) is noticed by Dr. Harlan, who says, 'The poison of the living Crotalus, tested in numerous instances with litmus paper, etc. invariably displayed acid properties.'" (Vide Harlan, " Medical and Physical Researches," p. 501, sq.)

collection of the Zoological Society, which was presented to the museum by Sir Stamford Raffles.

GENUS BUNGARUS.

We have already alluded to the genus Bungarus. This genus contains several dangerous Snakes peculiar to India, and allied to the genus Hamadryas; but the skin of the neck is not capable of being expanded into a hood. The scales along the middle of the back are larger than the others, as in Dipsas.

The BANDED BUNGARUS, (B. fasciatus,) is one of the best known and most formidable, attaining to the length of eight feet. Besides this, we may mention the B. caruleus, and the B. lividus. We give a sketch of the Banded Bungarus.

GENUS PELIAS.

Of the viperine section we may first notice the genus Pelias, Merrem, which contains the Common Viper of our island, and the adjacent parts of the continent. The characters of this genus are as follow:-Head depressed and wide at the posterior part, and is there covered on the top with small scales, not plates; there is no pit behind the nostrils, as in some allied genera. The scuta of the tail are divided.

The COMMON VIPER (P. berus) is, fortunately for us, the only British venomous Reptile; and its venom in our country, at least, is not so virulent, by any means, as that of the Serpent scourges of the hotter regions of the globe. It seldom happens that death follows its bite, in the case of human beings; we have several times seen persons whom it has wounded, and the effects have been distressing; the arm has swollen and inflamed, and a sense of faintness has followed; but, in a few days, the bad symptoms have disappeared. Ammonia, or hartshorn, given internally, and fomentations applied to the part, to be gently rubbed afterwards with oil, are the remedies usually employed. That the bite of this Reptile may prove fatal to persons labouring under