75 



pents Severai times during the year. The Hamadryas is very fierce, 

 and is ahvays ready not only to attack but to pursue when opposed ; 

 ■while the Čophias, the Vipera, the Naja, and the Bungarus, merely 

 defend themselves, which done, they always retreat, pronded no 

 further provocation is ofFered. The natives of India assert, that in- 

 dividuals are found upwards of twelve feet in length, a statement 

 probably not exaggerated, as I have myself seen specimens from eight 

 to ten feet in length, and from six to eight inches in circumference. 

 I have often heard it asserted, that ' Cobras' (which name is natu- 

 rally enough given to every hooded serpent,) have been met with of 

 an enormous size, but I strongly doubt their belonging to the genus 

 Naja : among a considerable number which have come under my ob- 

 servation, I never saw any exceeding five to six feet in length, -vvhile 

 the common size is about four feet. Some time before I discovered 

 the Hamadryas, I was favoured by J. W. Grant, Esq., of the Hon. 

 Company's Civil Service, with ein interesting description of a gi- 

 gantie hooded serpent he had observed in the upper provinces, and 

 which, he remarked, was not a Naja. By inspection this gentleman 

 denied the Hamadryas to be identiceJ \vith the above-mentioned. 



"The natives describe another hooded serpent, -vvhich is said to 

 attain a much larger size than the Hamadryas, and virhich, to con- 

 clude from the vernacular name, 'Mony Choar', is perhaps another 

 nearly allied species. 



" The fresh poison of the Hamadryas is a pellucid, tasteless fluid, 

 in consistence likę a thin solution of gum arabic in water ; it red- 

 dens slightly litmus paper *, ^hich is also the case with the fresh 

 poison of the Copkias viridis, Vipera elegans, Naja tripudians, Bun- 

 garus annularis and Bung. cceruleus : when kept for some time it acts 

 much stronger upon litmus, but after being kept it loses considerably 

 if not entirely its deleterious effects. 



" From a series of experiments upon living animals, the effects of 

 this poison come nearest to those produced by that of the Naja tripu- 

 dians, although it appears to act less ąuickly. The shortest period 

 ■mthin which this poison proved fatal to a fowl, ■vvas fourteen mi- 

 nutes ; whilst a dog expired in t\vo hours eighteen minutes after 

 being bitten. It should however be observed, that the experiment8 

 were made during the cold season of the year." 



A specimen of the present genus {Hamadryas), in the Collection 

 of the Society, was upon the table, having been presented to the 

 Museum by Sir Stamford Raffles, but \vithout any facts respecting 

 its history, or the locality in which he had procured it. 



* " M. Schlegel asserts (loc. cit. p. 34,) the venom is ' ni alcalin ni acide.' The 

 only Avay in which I can account for this niistake from a man who ranks among 

 the first Erpetologists, is by supposing that M. Schlegel himself never had an 

 opportunity of testing the poison of a living serpent ; for besides the five above- 

 mentioned genera of Indian venomous serpents, I found the fresh poison of dif- 

 ferent species of marine serpents {Hydrus) to possess the property of turuing litmus 

 paper red. The šame fact with the Crotaltts is noticed by Dr. Harlan, who says, 

 ' The poison of the Unng Crotalus tested in nimierous instances \vith litmus paper, 

 &c. invariably displayed acid properties.' (Vide Harlan, Medical and Physical Re- 

 searches, p. 501, sq.)" 



