638 



ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE VARIETIES OF COBRA 

 (NAIA TRIPUDIANS) IN INDIA. 



By Lt.-Col. W. B. Bannerman, m.d., b.sc, i.m.s., Director, Plague 

 Research Laboratory, and Assistant Surgeon J. P. Pocha, 

 in charge of the Venom Department, P. R. Laboratory. 



(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society on 6th July 1905.) 



In the year 1901 the Government of India resolved to start the 

 manufacture of antivenene in India, on the lines laid down by Fraser 

 and Calmette, and the first step in this direction was to secure a supply 

 of venom from the various poisonous snakes of the country. A circular 

 ordering the collection of snakes was therefore sent round by the 

 Government of India to the various Local Governments, and as a conse- 

 quence snakes began to arrive at the Plague Research Laboratory in 

 October 1901. Since that date 1,074 cobras have been collected, and 

 it is proposed in this paper to consider the distribution of the three 

 varieties we have received. 



Boulenger in his " Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum " 

 thus describes these three varieties : — 



A. — Forma Typica (C naia, L. ; N. lutescens, fasciata, brasiliensis, 

 siamensis, Laur. ; C. rufus, Gmek). — Yellowish to dark brown above, 

 with black-and-white spectacle-mark on the hood and a black-and-white 

 spot on each side of the lower surface of the hood. 25-35 scales across 

 the neck, 23-25 across the middle of the body. 



B. — Var. Cjeoa (N. non-naia, Laur. ; C. ccefus, Gmel ; T. oxiana, 

 Eichw.). — Uniform pale brown or grey to blackish ; no marking on 

 the hood ; one or more dark cross-bands on the anterior part of the 

 belly; young sometimes with dark rings. 25-31 scales across the 

 neck, 21-25 across the middle of the body. 



C, — Var. Fasciata, Gray (N, Jcaouthia, Less. ; W. larvata, Cant., var. 

 scopinucha, Cope) — Brown, olive, or blackish above, often with more 

 or less distinct light, black-edged cross-bars ; hood with a whitish, 

 black-edged ring or U, or with a mask-shaped figure ; a black spot on 

 each side under the hood. 25-31 scales across the neck, 19-21 across 

 the middle of the body. 



In popular language these three varieties are : — 



A — The cobra with spectacle marking on the hood = Binocell ate 

 cobra ; 



