The silver ringed snake has white and black rings arranged on the back of the whole body, the white ring is narrower, the tail is long and thin, the body length is 1,000-1,800mm, and the snake has anterior furrow teeth. Dorsal surface black or blue-black, with 30-50 white or creamy yellow narrow transverse stripes; ventral surface dirty white. Dorsum of head blackish brown, occipital dorsum of juveniles with light-colored inverted "V"-shaped spots. Dorsal spine high, triangular in cross-section, caudal end pointed. Head oval, less distinct from the neck area, dorsum with typical 9 large scales, no buccal scales, one row of spine scales in the middle of the dorsum enlarged in a hexagonal shape; a single row of scales on the underside of the tail.

The venom gland of the silver ring snake is very small, but the toxicity is extremely fierce, and it is the most poisonous among the ring snakes. Silver ring snake LD-50 is 0.108, with α-, β-bungarotoxin two neurotoxins, the patient will not feel pain when bitten, but want to sleep. In mild poisoning, local paralysis occurs. If the toxin acts on the neuromuscular junction, it will block the nerve conduction routes, resulting in the inability of the transverse striated muscle to contract normally, leading to respiratory paralysis, and the duration of action ranges from about 40 minutes to 2 hours, or as long as 24 hours. Before the application of antivenom, silver-ringed snake bites had a very high mortality rate and could be treated with neurotoxic antivenom, but were still very dangerous.

After a person is bitten, the sensation is not very obvious at first, and the pain is small, and after a few hours, if not treated in time, it is often due to respiratory paralysis and death. Adult silver ring snakes are used for medicinal purposes. Hatched 7 to 10 days of young snakes dried into medicine, called money white flower snake, has the efficacy of dispelling wind-dampness, convulsions, treatment of rheumatism and paralysis, pediatric convulsions, tetanus, scabies, syphilis and other diseases. Silver-ringed snake gall can cure convulsions caused by high fever in children.