132 Zoological Society. 



Hamadryas Ophiophagus. Ham. superne olivaceo-viridis, slriis 



sagittalibus nigris cinctus, ahdomine glauco , iiigro marmoralo. 



Scuta abdominalia a 215 ad 245 



Scuta subcaudalia a 13 ad 32 



Scutella subcaudalia a 63 ad 71 



Hah. Bengal. 



Hindustanee name, * Sunkr-Choar.' 



'* For the description and anatomical details, I beg to refer to my 

 provisional description, published in the Asiatic Researches, vol. xx. 

 p. 87., vsrhile I shall here confine myself to some general remarks 

 upon the habits, the effects of the poison, and the history of this 

 serpent. 



*' The Hamadryas, like the Bungarus, Hydrus, and Hydrophis, has 

 a few maxillary teeth behind the poison-fangs, and thus like the lat- 

 ter connects the venomous serpents with isolated poison-fangs to the 

 harmless, which possess a complete row of maxillary teeth. 



" Of the terrestrial venomous serpents the Bungarus is chiefly cha- 

 racterized by a distribution of the teeth similar to that of the Hama- 

 dryas, which, also partaking of the chief characteristic of the genus 

 Naja, viz. that of forming a hood or disc, constitutes an immediate 

 link between the genera Bungarus and Naja. 



** In consequence of the strong resemblance in the general appear- 

 ance between the Naja and the Hamadryas, when first my attention 

 became attracted to the latter, I thought I could refer this serpent 

 to that genus ; and it was not until I was able to examine a speci- 

 men whose poison-fangs were untouched (those of the first speci- 

 mens I saw having been drawn by the natives, who are greatly 

 afraid of this serpent), that I discovered the maxillary teeth behind 

 the poison-fangs. 



*' Hamadryas ophiophagus differs from the Naja tripudians : 



1. By its maxillary teeth. 



2. By the strongly developed spines on the os occipitale inferius. 



3. By the integuments covering the head. 



4. By the integuments covering the abdominal surface of the tail. 



5. By its colour. 



6. By its size. 



" According to the natives the Hamadryas feeds chiefly upon other 

 serpents ; in one I dissected I found remains of a good-sized Mo- 

 nitor, which fact may account for its arboreal habits, as I have in 

 Bengal, along the banks of the rivers, observed numbers of those 

 large lizards among the branches of trees watching for birds. 



" Tlie power of abstaining from food, generally speaking, so charac- 

 teristic of the serpents, is but in comparatively small degree possessed 



