Credit: ©The Royal Society
    Image number: RS.20859

    King cobra

    Date
    1872
    Creator
    Annada Prasad Bagchi (1849 - 1905, Indian) , Artist
    Creator - Organisation
    M & N Hanhart, Lithographer
    Object type
    Library reference
    38927
    Material
    Technique
    Dimensions
    height (page): 660mm
    width (page): 455mm
    Subject
    Biology
       > Natural history
    Biology
       > Zoology
          > Herpetology
    Content object
    nature
       > animal
          > snake
    Description
    Herpetological study of a King cobra, Ophiophagus Hannah, here referred to as Ophiophagus elaps. Depicting full body, from behind, in a coiled position, head in right profile.

    Inscribed: ‘OPHIOPHAGUS ELAPS (HAMADRYAS) DUSKY VARIETY. Plate 8/ Rediced 1/6 of original/ Length including tail 11’10”/ Length of tail 13”/ Girth 9”/ Drawn by Annoda Prosad Bagchee, Student. M & N HANHART CHROMOLITH. Govt. Sch. Of Art, Calcutta’.

    Written in the associated description: ‘The Ophiophagus is probably the largest and most deadly of the Thanatophidia; fortunately, though widely distributed, it is not very common. According to Gunther it is found in almost every part of the Indian continent […]’.

    Plate 7 from Joseph Fayrer’s The Thanatophidia of India; being a description of the venomous snakes of the Indian Peninsula, with an account of the influence of their poison on life, and a series of experiments (London, 1872). A study of various Indian snake species and how to treat their bites. Complete with colour illustrations to aid classification and identification created by students of the Kolkata School of Art. Published by the colonial government.

    Annada Prasad Bagchi (1849-1905), Indian artist, co-founder of the Kolkata Art Studio in 1878.

    Sir Joseph Fayrer, first baronet, (1824-1907), surgeon and author, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1877. Fayrer worked in colonial India between 1850 and 1872 and is best known for The Thanatophidia of India.
    Object history
    This volume was presented to the Royal Society on 27 July 1872 with an accompanying letter from the author [‘May I beg the Royal Society’s acceptance of a copy of my work on the Poisonous Snakes of India’].
    Related fellows
    Joseph Fayrer (1824 - 1907, British) , Surgeon
    Associated place
    <The World>
       > Asia
          > India
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