OCR Text |
Show 1897.] MR. A. THOMSON'S REPORT ON THE INSECT-HOUSE. 295 apply the term desmognathous to those birds, it must be on the understanding that it is a different kind of thing from the desmognathism of-say-the Anseres. March 2, 1897. Dr. W. T. BLANFORD, F.B.S., V.P., in the Chair. The Secretary exhibited two examples of a new Viper, recently discovered by Capt. A. H . McMahon during the Survey of the Indo-Persian frontier, and named Eristlcophls macmahonl, gen. et sp. nov., by Dr. Alcock. The following notes on its habits, sent to the Society by the discoverer along with the specimens, were read:- " W e found this snake in the sandy portions only of the desert lying between Nushki and Persia. While lying still on the sand it is almost impossible, even in the brightest light, to distinguish it from the sand on which it lies. During the daytime it appeared to be fond of burying its body in the soft sand, leaving its head only exposed on the surface. WTe never noticed it to make any sound in the daytime, but at night whenever we approached one of them, even at a distance of many yards off, it used to make a loud deep hissing sound-an angry deep sound, unlike the crisp hiss of Echis carinata, the hiss of the cobra, or any other snake I have ever heard. It evidently hisses from deep down in the throat, for I have failed ever to detect any muscular movement such as the Echis makes when it rustles its scales together to produce a hissing sound. " It apparently never attempts to escape, and lies still, hissing away, if at night, until killed, or until the intruder passes by, or is out of sight or hearing, as the case may be. In the daytime these snakes are consequently hard to find, and even at night, loud as they hiss, it is difficult to detect them on the sand. The larger of the two specimens I gave you (the largest, in fact, of all those w e found) very nearly bit m y horse one night, when, trusting to the bright moonlight to enable m e to distinguish its outline, I had ridden too close to where the hissing sound proceeded from. These snakes are very difficult to secure without injuring them as specimens. Even light blows with a thin stick will cut the skin and disfigure the specimen. The smaller but more perfect of the two specimens I sent you was captured alive, and thus escaped injury. " Their fragile skins and soft bodies are, I presume, due to their living always in very soft sand." A series of specimens of various Insects reared in the Insect-house in the Society's Gardens in 1896 was exhibited, and the following report on the subject drawn up by Mr. Arthur Thomson, the Society's Head Keeper, was read:- |