CHAPTER XLII: THE ELAPINE POISONOUS 



SNAKES 



Sub-family ELAPiNi€ 



A Large Sub-family of the COLUBRID/E Embracing the Old 

 IVorld Cobras and Their Allies, and the American Coral 

 Snakes — Resume of the ELAPINAi — Descriptions of the 

 North American Species — Their Habits 



Classification and Distribution. — With the exception of the 

 Cora! Snakes (genus Elaps), the Elapine snakes inhabit the Old 

 World. This sub-family is composed of twenty-nine genera, 

 which embrace about one hundred and forty species. 



While the Elapine snakes occur abundantly in Africa, 

 southern Asia and throughout the Malay Archipelago, they are 

 most elaborately represented in Australia and New Guinea. 

 Australia teems with these formidable reptiles which compose 

 the serpent life of that great island, with the exception of a very 

 few harmless species. The Black Snake (Pseudechis porphyria- 

 cus), the Tiger Snake {Hoplocephalus curtus), the Brown Snake 

 {Diemenia superciliosa) and the Death Adder (Acanthophis 

 antarctica) are among the deadly snakes of the latter country. 

 With the exception of the Death Adder, these species are very 

 closely allied to the Cobras, and exhibit a tendency to dilate the 

 neck into a "hood" when angered. 



The largest species of the Elapine snakes are the Cobras, 

 genus Naja, which inhabit southern Asia, the Malay Archipelago 

 and Africa. The majority of these serpents, of which there are 

 ten species, attain a length of six feet, and one species, the King 

 Cobra (N. bungartis), grows to a length of twelve feet. Probably 

 the most familiar example of the Elapine^ is the Cobra-de-capello 

 (N. tripudians) of southern Asia and Malaysia. This is the snake 

 so frequently employed by the Hindoos in their exhibitions. 

 Another well-known species is the Egyptian Cobra, or "Asp" 

 (N. haje), alleged by historians to have been used in the suicide 

 of Cleopatra. When annoyed, the majority of the Cobras rear 

 the fonvard portion of the body from the ground, and dilate the 



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