 In certain regions, presence or absence of certain scales may be a quick way to distinguish non-venomous and venomous snakes, but used with care and knowledge of exceptions.For example, in Myanmar, the presence or absence of loreal scales can be used to distinguish between relatively harmless Colubrids and lethally venomous Elapids.The rule of hand for this region is that the absence of a loreal scale between the nasal scale and pre-ocular scale indicates that the snake is an Elapid and hence lethal.