244 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXII. 



•Xaia" in Mr. Boulenger's works.* I notice Professor Stejneger in 



his more recent workf .adheres to the original rendering of the 

 word, and I also prefer to accept this. 



The specific title " tripudians" bestowed by Merrem is from the 

 Latin meaning literally " dancing on the toe." This is obviously 

 in allusion to the cobra's characteristic attitude when excited. 



(/<) English. — To Europeans generally the snake is known as 

 •• the cobra " a word however applied in Portuguese to airy snake. The 

 Portuguese always referred to it as the " cobra de capello" or " hooded 

 snake." and for many years siibsequent to their occupation of India 

 the qualifying adjective, now obsolete, was retained to distinguish 

 it from the " cobra monil " or ' : necklace snake" (Russell's viper), 

 the •' cobra de aqua, or " water snake," etc., etc. 



(c) Vernacular. — Inmost parts of India the cobra is known to 

 the natives as -nag," "nag samp," or some variation of "nag." 

 The varieties that natives pretend to recognise, and to which they 

 apply special names are endless. Every juggler has a dozen qualifying 

 terms, at his command, and no two jugglers will agree in the name 

 they apply to a given individual. One hears of " arege nagoo," 

 " coodum (wheat) nagoo, " jonna nagoo," based on colours resembling 

 that of various cereals, " chinta " or " scinta (tamarind) nagoo," 

 "malle (jasmine) nagoo" and "mogla nagoo " based on the names 

 of plants, " cowri nagoo" and " sankoo nagoo" based on the 

 names of shells, " kala nag," " sata nag," and a host of other 

 •• nags." Such names mostly emanate from professional snake men, 

 and are of little or no interest, but there are many other local names 

 that deserve mention. " Naya " is the name applied to the 

 cobra by the Singhalese in Ceylon, but in this Island where so much 

 Tamil labour is employed, South Indian names are frequently 

 heard, such as ' ; nalla pambu " (good snake), and "naga pambu." 

 On the West Coast I heard " murukan " literally " cruel," and " sair- 

 poom," both Malayalam words applied to it. In Mysore the 

 Canarese call it " nagara hava." In Bengal where the two forms, 

 '•/'... the binocellate and the monocellate are associated, the former 

 is known as " naga gokurra," and the latter as "keauthia", 

 according to Fayrer, Ewart, Nicholson and others with ••kala" or 

 other qualifying prefixes " Gorhmon '" is another name used in Bengal 

 for pale varieties according In Simson.+ Mr. D'Abreu tells me that 

 in Behar " goh-manna " and " nag " are in use. In the North-West 

 about Bawal Pindi "chajli" or <; chajliwalla" is the common name 

 for the cobra. " Chaj," I understand, is the Pushtu for a winnowing 

 fan. which its dilated hood is somewhat fancifully held to resemble. 

 Another I'nslitn name in allusion to the hood is, I am told, common 



* Faun. Brit. Ind. Rcptilia and Batrachia and Cat. Snakes, British Museum. 



t Herp. of Japan. 



% Letters on Sport in Eastern Bengal, p. 239. 



