194 



ZOOLOGY. 



[Part II. 



ment vessel employed in the conservancy of the pearl 

 banks, was anchored about a quarter of a mile from 

 land, in the bay of Koodremale, a cobra was seen, about 

 an hour before sunset, swimming vigorously towards 

 the ship. It came within twelve yards, when the 

 sailors assailed it with billets of wood and other 

 missiles, and forced it to return to land. The follow- 

 ing morning they discovered the track which it had 

 left on the shore, and traced it along the sand till it 

 disappeared m the jungle.^ On a later occasion, in the 

 vicinity of the same spot, when the " Wellington " was 

 lying at some distance from the shore, a cobra was 

 found and kiUed on board, where it could only have 

 gained access by chmbing up the cable. It was first 

 discovered by a sailor, who felt the chill as it glided 

 over his foot.^ 



In Bennett's account of " Ceylon and its Capabilities,'' 

 there is a curious piece of Singhalese folk-lore, to the 

 effect, that the cobra de capello every time it expends 

 its poison loses a joint of its tail, and eventually acqukes 

 a head which resembles that of a toad. A recent dis- 

 covery of Dr. Kelaart has thrown hght on the origin 

 of this popular fallacy. The family of " false snakes " 

 (pseudo-ti/phlops), as Schlegel names the group, have 

 till lately consisted of but three species, one only of 

 which was known to inhabit Ceylon. They belong to 

 a family intermediate between the hzards and serpents 

 with the body of the latter, and the head of the former, 

 with which they are moreover identified by havmg the 



^ Stewaht's Account of the Pearl 

 Fisheries of Ceylmi, p. 9 : Colombo, 

 1843. 



The Python reticulatus (the "rock- 

 snake ") has been kno-mi, like the 

 cobra de capello, to make short voy- 

 ages at sea. One was taken on 

 board H.M.S. "Hastings," when off 

 the coast of Bnrmah, in 1853 ; it is 

 now in the possession of the surgeon, 

 Dr. Scott. 



^ SwAlNSON, in his Habits and 

 Instincts of Animals, c. iv. p. 187, 

 says that instances are well attested 

 of the common English snake having 

 been met with in the open channel, 

 between the coast of Wales and the 

 island of Anglesea, as if they had 

 taken their departure from the one 

 and were bound for the other. 



