The Snakes of India
Contents: Introduction. 1. General information about snakes. 2. Animals confused with snakes. 3. Teeth and poison-glands. 4. Snake poison. 5. Scales on a snake. 6. Classifications of snakes. 7. Poisonous snakes. 8. Vipers. 9. Pitless Vipers: i. Russell's viper or Daboia. ii. Saw-scaled viper or Echis or Phoorsa. iii. Other Pitless Vipers. 10. Pit Vipers. 11. Cobras: i. Indian Cobra. ii. Hamadryad or King Cobra. 12. Coral snakes. 13. Kraits: i. The common Krait. ii. Banded Krait. 14. Sea snakes. 15. Blind snakes. 16. Burrowing snakes. 17. Earth-snakes: i. Russell's earth-snake. ii. John's earth-snake. 18. Constrictors: i. Pythons or rock snakes: a. Indian Python. b. Reticulate Python. ii. Boas. 19. Iridescent earth-snake. 20. Slug snakes. 21. Water snakes. 22. Rat snakes or Dhamans. 23. Tree snakes: i. Whip-snakes or long-nosed tree-snakes. ii. Cat snakes or broad-headed tree snakes. iii. Bronze-back. iv. Ornate tree-snake. 24. Sand snakes. 25. Wolf snakes. 26. Keel-backs. 27. Kukri snakes or filleted ground-snakes. 28. Other snakes: i. Trinket snake. ii. Copper-headed rat-snake. iii. Gunther's reed snake. iv. Bridal snake. v. Many-toothed spot-bellied snake. 29. Snakes in Britain, South Africa and Australia. 30. Is a snake poisonous or harmless?. 31. Treatment for snake-bite. 32. Protection against snakes. 33. Identification of a snake. 34. Hindu mythology--snakes and folklore. 35. Geographical distribution of snakes in India. 36. A world survey of dangerous snakes (by Mr. R.K. Golikere). Index.
"There is so far no modern standard book on Indian snakes or a scientific and technical one. From my experience there appears to be a demand for some popular book giving general information and useful knowledge about the various common snakes of India. I have been interested in the subject for over 25 years, being drawn to it mainly by the heavy mortality figures. There is hardly anything original in this book. The information has been collected from divers sources and put together without its being made too technical. A little information is added about some of the principal snakes of other countries, whose names one often comes across in the course of general reading. Burma and the Andamans, being at present under Indian jurisdiction, have been treated as a part of India for the purposes of this book.
Some of the illustrations given are not very dear, as they represent specimens of snakes preserved in spirit." (jacket)
