IMMUNOLOGICAL RELATIONSHIPS OF VENOMOUS SNAKES

1. Sera of 14 species and subspecies of venomous snakes, representing five subfamilies and two families, were studied by immunoelectrophores is using antisera against sera of Bungarus multicinctus, Deinagkistrod on acutus, Naja naja atra, Trimeresurus mucrosquamatus, and Vipera rus selli formosensis. 2. Except for Naja antiserum, the other four antise ra reacted strongly with sera collected from members of its own family , but they did not differentiate well from distantly related species. 3. With the exception of Bungarus serum, all other sera developed with Naja antiserum showed fewer arcs, and the same was true, when Naja se rum was developed with the three viperid antisera; but not the antiser um of Bungarus. These results indicate that certain serum proteins in Naja are distinct from those of other snakes. Is this finding caused b y faster evolution of proteins in Naja or by the primitive nature of N aja? 4. Deinagkistrodon does not show a closer relationship to Agkistr odon than to other crotalines, when using Deinagkistrondon antiserum t o react with crotaline sera. The generic status of Deinagkistrodon is thus supported by our study.