Читать книгу Venoms: Venomous Animals and Antivenomous Serum-therapeutics - A. Calmette - Страница 17

Blackish-brown or bluish, with narrow transverse white streaks, or small white spots, or alternate rings of yellow and dark brown; belly white. Smaller than the foregoing, scarcely exceeding 1,000 millimetres in length. It is known as the “Krait” in India, where, after the Cobra, the variety cæruleus causes most deaths among human beings. It is found in jungles and rice-fields, and commonly secretes itself in old trees and old walls. It frequently penetrates into houses, verandahs, bathrooms, and even beds. Sir Joseph Fayrer relates the story of a lady, who, when travelling in a palanquin, found on arriving at her destination a “Krait” coiled up in her luggage, the snake having thus made the journey with her throughout a whole night.

The Krait may easily be confused with Lycodon aulicus, a harmless snake which closely resembles it, though it can at once be distinguished by examining its mouth.