8i 



trals 224-235; anal entire; subcaudals 35-40 

 single. Body round, tail cylindrical. Grows to 

 three feet. 



Colour, black, encircled white. Back of adult 

 sometimes with white blotches instead of rings. 

 Ventrals white, banded black, as in the cobra ; 

 ventrals of young uniform white. 



A very poisonous snake, which is not often 

 met with in Ceylon, except in certain localities. 



Naia Tripudians (Common Cobra). 



Head slightly distinct from neck. Eye small, 

 with round pupil. Internasal in contact with the 

 praeocular. Frontal as long as its distance from 

 the nostril, or a little shorter, much shorter than 

 the parietals; one praeocular and three postoculars; 

 seven upper labials, third and fourth entering the 

 eye ; four lower labials in contact with anterior 

 chin shields. 23 to 27 scales across the neck, 19 

 to 23 across the centre of the body. Ventrals 

 170-206; anal entire; subcaudals 49-75, double. 

 Body cylindrical, and neck dilatable to a great 

 extent. Grows to five feet two inches. 



Colour, very variable. Ceylonese varieties are 

 mostly grey, brown, black, and sometimes rusty 

 coloured, almost always flecked with white or light 

 yellow, and have faint white chevrons on the 

 epidermis, with the vertebrals as their apices. 

 Neck with an inverted white spectacle pattern, 

 edged black, and often on a pinkish ground. This 

 pattern may sometimes be incomplete, or even 

 absent. Ventrals white, with broad black bars. 



This snake is the commonest deadly snake in 

 Ceylon. It can be distinguished from all other 

 snakes by the presence of a small wedge-shaped 

 scale lying between the lower labials and the 

 mouth. The hood of the cobra measures about 

 one inch in width to every foot of the snake's 

 length. The cobra can erect its body to the 

 height of about one-third of its length. 



