OPHIDIA : VIPERID^E AND ELAPID^. 307 



States and northward, is about twenty-four inches long, 

 light chestnut, with darker transverse bars. It chooses 

 dark, shady places, or meadows of high grass. 



The Genus Toxicophis has the tail without a rattle, and 

 loral plates absent. The species are aquatic. 



The Water Moccasin, or Cotton Mouth, T. piscivorus, 

 B. & G., of the Southern States, is about twenty-four 

 inches long, dark chestnut-brown, with transverse bars of 

 black. In summer, this snake is seen on the low branches 

 which hang over the water, into which it falls on the 

 slightest alarm. It is more to be dreaded than even the 

 rattlesnake, as it attacks everything that comes in its 

 way, and without warning. 



VIPERID/E, OR VIPER FAMILY. This Family comprises 

 venomous snakes which are without pits behind the nos- 

 trils. They belong to the Old World. 



ELAPID^E. This Family comprises venomous snakes 

 which have fixed and permanently erect fangs. 



The Genus Elaps Harlequin Snakes has a slender 

 body, never exceeding three or four feet long, and the 

 upper jaw with an erect fang on each side. 



The Harlequin Snake, E.fnh'ins, Cuv., of the southern 

 and western portions of the United States, is red, annu- 

 lated with black, margined with yellow ; length eighteen 

 to thirty inches. 



The Genus Naia comprises vipers which can raise up 

 and draw forward the anterior ribs, so as to dilate the 

 forward part of the body into a more or less broad disk. 



The Cobra, or Spectacled Viper, N. tripiidians, Schleg., 

 of India, is distinguished by a black line, resembling the 

 figure of a pair of spectacles, traced on the widened por- 

 tion of its disk. Its bite is deadly. The jugglers of India 

 extract its fangs, and then teach it to dance. 



The Haje, N. hajc, Geoff., of Africa, has the neck less 

 wide than that of the preceding. The ancient Egyptians 



