"Called on by a Boa Constrictor. A West African Adventure" in Cassell's Saturday Journal, published in February 1891. In the article, a captain tells how he was dispatched to a remote camp in [West Africa] to stay in a tumbledown cabin that belonged to a Portuguese trader. On the first night in the cabin, he is awoken by a creaking sound, and sees "a dark queer-looking thing hanging down through the ventilator above it". It turns out to be the largest [Boa constrictor] he has seen (more likely a python because there are no boas in Africa). He is paralysed with fear as the serpent comes down into the room. Unable to cry out for help, the captain spots an old bell that hung from a projecting beam above one of the windows. The bell cord had rotted away, but by means of a stick he manages to ring it and raise the alarm. Identity of 'The Speckled Band' "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten." Most people consider the snake to be a fictitious creation; however, the identity of the snake has been a subject of much debate among Sherlockians. The key characteristics to be considered in identification of the snake are: A fast-acting neurotoxic venom, as opposed to the common haemotoxic venom of most snakes Ability to climb well Appearance described as a "yellow band with brownish speckles", a "squat, diamond-shaped" head, and a "puffed" neck An Indian origin The below candidates have been considered. Source: The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes by Leslie S Klinger Publication history "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" was first published in the UK in The Strand Magazine in February 1892, and in the United States in the US edition of the Strand in March 1892. The story was published with nine illustrations by Sidney Paget in The Strand Magazine. It was included in the short story collection The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, which was published in October 1892. Adaptations Theatre Conan Doyle wrote an adaptation for the stage in 1910, The Speckled Band. It premiered at the Adelphi Theatre, London on 4 June 1910, under the name The Stonor Case. In autumn 2013, a new stage adaptation, Sherlock Holmes and the Speckled Band, by Max Gee premiered at Treasurer's House, York and Ripley Castle, Ripley, North Yorks. The