Annulated sea snake
Date
1872
Creator
Nityanunda Dey (Indian) , Artist
Creator - Organisation
M & N Hanhart, Lithographer
Object type
Library reference
38927
Material
Technique
Dimensions
height (page): 455mm
width (page): 330mm
width (page): 330mm
Subject
Content object
Description
Herpetological study of an annulated sea snake, Hydrophis cyanocinctus, here referred to as Hydrophis crassicollis. Viewed from above, with full body depicted, and three sketched details, showing scalation of the body and head, and the specimen’s head in profile, with mouth open.
Inscribed: ‘HYDROPHIS CRASSICOLLIS. Plate 22. / FROM NATURE./ IND. MUS./ Length including tail. 4’3”/ Tail 4”/ Girth of body 3”/ Girth of neck 2”. Drawn by Nityanunda Dey. Student. M & N HANHART CHROMO LITH. Govt. Sch. of Art, Calcutta.’
Written in the associated description: ‘Olive yellow above, yellowish on the scales and under surface, 62 broad black bands on the back contracting to a point on the sides, but prolonged very indistinctly on to them, and the ventral aspect, where they expands as a large blackish spot.’ (p.27)
Plate 22 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.
Nityanunda Dey, student at the Government School of Art, Kolkata.
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.
Inscribed: ‘HYDROPHIS CRASSICOLLIS. Plate 22. / FROM NATURE./ IND. MUS./ Length including tail. 4’3”/ Tail 4”/ Girth of body 3”/ Girth of neck 2”. Drawn by Nityanunda Dey. Student. M & N HANHART CHROMO LITH. Govt. Sch. of Art, Calcutta.’
Written in the associated description: ‘Olive yellow above, yellowish on the scales and under surface, 62 broad black bands on the back contracting to a point on the sides, but prolonged very indistinctly on to them, and the ventral aspect, where they expands as a large blackish spot.’ (p.27)
Plate 22 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.
Nityanunda Dey, student at the Government School of Art, Kolkata.
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