Russell’s sea snake
Date
1872
Creator
Hurrish Chunder Khan (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 Russell’s sea snake, Hydrophis obscurus, here referred to as Hydrophis chloris. Viewed from above, full body depicted, with two details showing scalation of head and body.
Inscribed: ‘HYDROPHIS CHLORIS. Plate 27/ FROM NATURE. IND. MUS./ Length including tail 3’3 ½”/ Tail 2 ½”/ Girth of body 2 ½”/ Girth of neck ¾”/ Drawn by Hurrish Chunder Khan Student. M & N HANHART CHROMOLITH. Govt/ School of Art. Calcutta.’
Written in the associated description: ‘Head very small, of moderate width; neck very slender, the length of the thin part of the body being more than one-third of the total.’
Plate 27 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.
Hurrish Chunder Khan, 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 India between 1850 and 1872 and is best known for The Thanatophidia of India.
Inscribed: ‘HYDROPHIS CHLORIS. Plate 27/ FROM NATURE. IND. MUS./ Length including tail 3’3 ½”/ Tail 2 ½”/ Girth of body 2 ½”/ Girth of neck ¾”/ Drawn by Hurrish Chunder Khan Student. M & N HANHART CHROMOLITH. Govt/ School of Art. Calcutta.’
Written in the associated description: ‘Head very small, of moderate width; neck very slender, the length of the thin part of the body being more than one-third of the total.’
Plate 27 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.
Hurrish Chunder Khan, 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 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