2586 



SCALED REPTILES 



snake is a very variable species as regards coloration, some examples having a dark 

 spectacle-like mark on the back of the hood, while others have only a single eye- 

 like spot, and others, again, have no mark at all in this region. In regard to col- 

 oration, Mr. Boulenger remarks that the hue of the upper parts may be grayish 

 brown or black, with or without a spectacle or loop-shaped black light-edged 

 marking on the neck or with light spots or cross bands on the body; while beneath 



YOUNG GIANT COBRA OR HAMADRYAD. 



(One-seventh natural size.) 



it varies from whitish, through brow r nish, to blackish, sometimes with black cross- 

 bars on the fore part of the body. Occasionally attaining a length of a few inches 

 over six feet, while an instance is on record where a specimen measured upward 

 of seven feet three inches, this cobra is distributed over the whole of India and 

 Ceylon, ranging westward through Afghanistan to the Caspian, and to the east to 

 the Malayan region, and the south of China. The other Indian species or giant 



