73 



freąuenting the branches, I propose to call Hamadryas. Its charac- 

 ters induce me to assign it a place between the genera Nuja, Lau- 

 renti, and Bungarus, Daudin, \vhich two forms it -vvill be found to 

 connect together. 



Hamadryas. 



Caput latum, subovatum, deplanatum, rostro brevi obtuso, scutis 



ąuindecim superne tectum. 

 Buccee tumidae. 

 . Oculi magni prominentes, pupilld rotundžL. 

 Nares latė apertae, duorum scutorum ia confinio. 

 Oris rietus peramplus, subundatus. 

 Tela antica, pone qua dentes inaxillares. 

 Collum dilatabile. 

 Corpus crassum, teres, squamis Isevibus, per senes obliąuas dis- 



positis, imbricatim tectum. 

 Cauda brevis, apice acuto, scntis et scutellis tecta. 



Hamadryas Ophiophagus. Ham. superni oUvaceo-viridis, striia 

 sagittalibus nigris cinctus, ahdomine glauco, nigro marmorato. 



Scuta abdominalia a 215 ad 245 

 Scuta subcaudalia a 13 ad 32 

 Scutella subcaudalia a 63 ad 71 



Hah. Bengal. 



Hindustanee name, ' Sunkr-Choar.' 



" For the description and anatomical details, I beg to refer to my 

 provisional description, published in the Asiatic Researches, vol. xx. 

 p. 87., while I shall here confine myself to some general remarks 

 upon the habits, the elFects of the poison, and the history of this 

 serpent. 



" The Hamadryas, likę the Bungarus, Hydrus, sūaAHydrophis, has 

 a few maxillary teeth behind the poison-fangs, and thus likę the lat- 

 ter connects the venoraous serpents with isolated poison-fangs to the 

 harmless, which possess a complete row of maxillary teeth. 



" Of the terrestrial venomous serpents the Bungarus h chiefly cha- 

 racterized by a distribution of the teeth similar to that of the Hama- 

 dryas, which, also partaking of the chief characteristic of the genus 

 Naja, viz. that of forminga hood or disc, constitutes an immediate 

 link betvveen the genera Bungarus and Naja. 



" In conseąuence of the strong resemblance in the general appear- 

 ance between the Naja and the Hamadryas, when first my attention 

 became attracted to the latter, I thought I could refer this serpent 

 to that genus ; and it was not until I "vvas able to examine a speci- 

 men whose poison-fangs were untouched (those of the first speci- 

 mens I sa\v having been drawn by the natives, 'who are greatly 

 afraid of this serpent), that I discovered the maxiUary teeth behind 

 the poison-fangs. 



" Hamadryas ophiophagus difFers from the Naja tripudians : 



1. By its maxillary teeth. 



2. By the strongly developed spines on the os occipitale inferiva. 



