30 VENOMS 
B.—ASIA, DUTCH INDIES, AND PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 
The species of snakes most dangerous to man are found in the 
warmer regions of Asia. India especially is infested by the famous 
Cobra-di-Capello (Naja tripudians), which possesses the highly 
remarkable faculty of dilating its neck in the form of a hood 
when irritated, and whose sculptured image appears on almost 
all the Hindu monuments. 
We shall describe in a separate section (see below, F.) the 
HYDROPHIINÆ, or Sea-snakes, a large number of species of which 
frequent the shores of the Indian Ocean, the Strait of Malacca, 
the China Sea, the Moluccas, Celebes, and North Australia. 
In the case of certain species the area of distribution includes 
the whole of the tropical and sub-tropical zones of the Pacific 
Ocean, as far as the West Coast of America. It is therefore 
preferable to group them together for the purpose of comprehensive 
study. 
Besides the above, the continent of Asia harbours a muititude of 
poisonous snakes belonging to the two Families COLUBRIDÆ and 
VIPERIDÆ. 
The genera and species belonging to these are so diverse, that 
we must confine ourselves to mentioning the essential characters 
of those that present most interest. 
I.—FaAMILY COLUBRID. 
; (a) Bungarus. 
(b) Naja. 
Subfamily ELAPINæ : Genera (c) Hemibungarus. 
(d) Callophis. 
(e) Doliophis. 
(a) Bungarus. 
Head hardly distinct from the neck; eyes small, with round or 
vertically elliptic pupils; nostril between two nasal shields. Two 
large poison-fangs followed by one or two small, shghtly grooved 
