i*^ Catalogue of Rejjtiles. 



f- li'^^t\ Bengal probably. Spectacles Jisitinct, 



/» ditto two specimens, ditto. 



(1. ditto. 



Ji. ditto 3 specimens, from Pegu probably. 



A large central and two small lateral dark spots in a pale 

 oval area. 

 i. ditto two specimens (bleacbed), from Pegu probably. 



No spectacles, oval mark only with dark ceutre. 

 j. ditto swallowing a Biifo melanostidus. 

 h. ditto, 3 specimens from Pegu probably. 

 ^- ditto Mergui. Major Berdmore, 



w. ditto ditto. W. Theobald, Esq., Jr 



01. young. . Bengal (?) 



Spectacles displayed. 

 o. ditto ditto. 

 jy. ditto, 4 specimens, all from Pegu probably. 



q. ditto two-headed monster. Nawab of Dacca. 



r. head of cobra distended ; no spectacles or other mark. 



Most of the specimens in the collection belong to the variety which 

 occurs on the east side of the Bay, without spectacles, but with merely 

 a pale black central oval mark on the neck. The ordinary spectacled 

 variety- I have never ousted in Pegu or Tenasserim. 



The commonest color of the cobra is a uniform brown, rather dark, 

 but I have seen many living ones in Bengal, ahnost pale yellow or 

 yellowish stone color. From this pale tint, the color passes through the 

 four varieties to uniform black. The pale varieties are called in Bengal 

 " Gorhmoii," and the black is known by the name of " Kaonthia," with 

 the epithet black often affixed. It is the largest and most dreaded 

 variety, but I don't think its color is the result of age, as I have seen 

 fully adult cobras of a pale yellowish color, though rarely. The Pegu 

 variety is dark, with the oval mark very constant, and never exhibits 

 any approach to the spectacles. 



Dr. Giinther remarks " Singularly, it has never been observed by 

 Mr. Hodgson in the valley of Nepal." This is very easily accounted 

 for, since few could venture to kill a cobra, even for scientific ends, in 

 the rigorously Hindu Kote of Xepal. In British India, decent Hindoos 

 will not kill a cobra ; and if one has taken wp his abode in a house, he 

 is either permitted to remain, or else carefully inveigled into an earthen 

 pot, which is then closed and carried ojS* for miles, before it is opened 

 and the sacred reptile within respectfully allowed to regain his liberty. 

 I have myself witnessed this deferential deportation of the cobra in 

 Bengal ; but of course none but the orthodox Hindoo is so careful to 

 abstain from injuring the animal, and their reverential feeling is now 

 perhaps rather the exception than the rule, though probabl}' as strong 

 as ever in Nepal. 



