392 COLUBBIDJE. 



nasal in contact with the praeocular ; frontal as long as its distance 

 from the rostral or a little longer, much shorter than the parietals ; 

 one prseocular ; three (rarely two) postoculars; temporals 2 + 3 or 

 2 + 4; upper labials 7, third deepest, seventh longest, third and 

 fourth entering the eye ; 4 lower labials in contact with the ante- 

 rior chin-shields, which are as long as the posterior. 23 to 27 

 scales across the "neck," 19 to 23 across the middle of the 

 body. Ventrals 170-206 ; anal entire ; subcaudals 49-75. The 

 colour varies extremely : upper parts greyish, 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; whitish, brown, or blackish beneath, sometimes with black 

 cross bands on the anterior part of the body. 



The largest specimen in the British Museum measures 6 feet 

 4 inches, the tail one foot. 



The Cobra or Naga is the best known and most deadly snake of 

 India. Its habit of expanding the neck when irritated gives it a 

 most peculiar appearance, with which everyone interested in 

 natural history is familiar. It is the snake usually exhibited by 

 Snake-charmers. It is found all over India and Ceylon, Burma, 

 the Andamans, Southern China, Indo-China, and the Malay Penin- 

 sula and Archipelago ; in the Himalayas it extends to an altitude 

 of 8000 feet ; to the west it ranges to Afghanistan, North-eastern 

 Persia and Southern Turkestan, as far as the eastern coast of the 

 Caspian Sea. 



486. Naia bungarus. 



Naia bungarus, Schleg. Phys. Serp. ii, p. 476, pi. xvii, figs. 8 & 9 ; 



Schleg. 8f Mull. Verh. Ovcrz. JBez. Nederl. 2nd., Kept. p. 71, pi. x. 

 Hamadryas hannah, Cantor, As. Res. xix, 1836, p. 87, pis. x-xii. 

 Haraadryas ophiophagus, Cantor, P. Z. S. 1838, p. 73, 1839, p. 32 ; 



id. J. A. S. B. xvi, 1847, p. 1037. 



Naia vittata, Elliot, Madras Journ. L. S. xi, 1840, p. 39, pi. i. 

 Trimeresurus ophiophagus, part., Dum. Sf Bibr, Erp. Gen- vii, 



p. 1245. 



Hamadryas elaps, G'tinth. Cat. Col. Sn. p. 219*. 

 Trimeresurus bungarus, Jan, Rev. et Mag. Zool. 1859, p. 129; id. 



Icon. Ophid. 44, pi. iv. 

 Ophiophagus elaps, Giinth. Rept. E. I. p. 341 ; Anders. P. Z. 8. 1871, 



p. 188 ; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xxxix, 1870, pt. 2, p. 210, pi. xi, 



fig. 7 ; Fai/rer, Thanatoph. pis. vii viii. 

 Naja elaps, Theob. Cat. p. 209. 



Rostral much broader than deep, visible from above ; internasal 

 separated from the praeocular ; frontal nearly as long as its 

 distance from the end of the snout, much shorter than the parietals, 

 which are followed by a pair of large shields ; one praeocular 

 (rarely two) ; three postoculars ; temporals 2+2 ; upper labials 7, 

 third deepest, seventh longest,. third and fourth entering the eye ; 



* Naia elaps, Schleg., = Diemenia ikahcka, Lesson, as pointed out by Jan 

 in 1859, and again in 1878 by Peters and Doriu. 



