24
ECHIS.
scales, which are very prominent, and point downwards at a different angle to the rest; their friction against each other causes the sound. This little viper does not, I think, hiss at all. Its fangs are very long and mobile, like those of the Daboia. Its eye has a peculiarly vicious appearance. . . . . It is a small viper; a specimen from the Indian Museum is twenty-two and a half inches in length and about three in circumference, though no doubt it has somewhat shrunk by the action of the spirit. . . . . It is very active, and can dart a considerable distance—a foot or more—to strike its prey: it is by far the most active and aggressive poisonous snake I have seen.
