8s 



The Singhalese beHeve that great fights occur Enmity 

 between the cobra and the Russell's viper, but I cobrTand^ 

 have never known of a case myself, though I have the Russeir? 

 kept cobras and Russell's vipers together in the ^^^^* 

 same box. There is, however, in the Madras 

 Museum a bottled cobra, killed in the act of 

 swallowing a Russell's viper thicker than itself. I 

 have never before known cobras to show can- 

 nibalistic tendencies, except in the case of small 

 varieties of snakes. 



There is also a belief that the " Mapila " 

 (Lycodon Aulicus) kills people by sucking away 

 their blood, in much the same manner as a leech, 

 and that they are always found in sevens. As a 

 matter of fact, the Lycodons are often found living 

 together in a colony in one house. When killed the 

 body of the " Mapila" is burned by the natives, to 

 prevent the remaining six from turning up. 



The Singhalese name given to theTropidonotus 

 Stolatus (and applied sometimes to the Ancis- 

 trodon Hypnale) means " Death by the roadside," 

 and their idea is that this snake is so deadly that 

 after biting a man, it hurries out of the way to 

 prevent the dead body of the person bitten from 

 falling on it. 



When looking over a copy of the magazine Account of 

 ''Once a Week," dated 1861, I cam.e upon the ^e^P^^^ts, 

 following extract from an essay on Serpents, charies 

 written in the year 1741, by Charles Owen, D.D., ^^741"''" 

 which I reproduce : — 



*' Serpents^ you will be good enough to remember^ 

 are of three kinds ^ the Terrestialj the Aquatic^ and the 

 Amphibious. There be some with legs and some 

 without ; some viviparous and some oviparous ; some 

 carniverous and some vermivorous, feeding upon worms 

 and other reptiles in the summer time. In winter time 

 they all live upon air 



" .... //J Norway are two serpents of very 



