NATURAL HISTORY 



sen 



Family Y. Colubrulte. 



NAJA. 



Tripudians (Lat. dancing}, the Cobra de Capello. 



their weapons. The length of this snake is about five or six 

 feet.* 



The Egyptian Asp, or Haje, is supposed to be the asp by 

 whose bite Cleopatra died, and is in all probability the deaf 

 adder alluded to in the Scriptures, " which stoppeth her ears, 

 and refuseth to hear the voice of the charmer, charm he never 

 so wisely." 



* A Cobra in the Zoological Gardens was a long time in learning caution. It was 

 accustomed to lie coiled up at the bottom of the cage until a spectator came close, 

 when it invariably darted at him, of course striking its nose against the glass with 

 no small violence. On my first visit to the Reptile House after its arrival, it made 

 its customary attack, and after the space of a week, it again struck at rne. On a 

 visit, several months afterwards, it laid very quietly at the bottom of its cage, and 

 contented itself with a hiss. 



