NAIA. REPTILES. 363 



Gen. 26. NAIA, Laurenti. 



Plates larger on the body near the head ; head covered with 

 large plates, and hind head furnished with a hood ; poison- 

 ous fangs in the upper jaw. 



N. vulgaris, (Coluber naja, Lin.) The Cobra de Capello. Body 

 ferruginous yellow ; neck capable of inflation, and marked above 

 by white marks, with black edges, in the form of spectacles. 3 

 to 4 feet long. Inhabits India. Shaw, iii. pi. 107- 



N. haje, (Coluber haje, Lin.) Neck widened as in the preceding; 

 body greenish, bordered with brown. 5 to 6 feet long. Inha- 

 bits Egypt. Geoff. Rept. Eg. pi. 7- 



This species is conceived by Cuvier to be the aspic of the ancients. The jugglers of 

 Egypt, by pressing on the nape of .the neck with the finger, throw the animal into a 

 kind of catalepsy, which renders it stiff and immoveable. The habit which this 

 species has of raising itself up when approached, induced the ancient Egyptians to 

 believe that it guarded the fields where it was found ; and it is sculptured on the gates 

 of their temples as an emblem of the protecting divinity of the world. 



Gen. 27. ELAPS, Schn. Coluber, Lin. 



Large plates on the head; jaws with poison fangs, but not capable 

 of much dilatation ; head behind same breadth as the neck. 



E. lemniscatus, Cuv. (C. lemniscatus, Lin.) Body yellowish or 

 white, with triple ferruginous or blackish bands ; point of the 

 muzzle black. Inhabits Asia. Shaw, iii. 485. 



E. lacteus, Cuv. Body white, the back marked by double black 

 spots ; head black, with a longitudinal white line. 18 inches long. 

 Inhabits India and South America. Shaw, iii. 427. 



E. lubricus, Cuv. Body white, with equidistant black bands ; head 

 marked with a black band across the muzzle, and on the top by two 

 oblique stripes nearly meeting at an angle in front. 18 inches 

 long. Inhabits Africa. Shaw, iii. 487- 



Gen. 28. COBRA, Laurenti. 



Scales on the head carinated ; head from the eyes to the mouth 

 subtriangular ; poisonous fangs in the upper jaw. 



C. Atropos, Cuv. (Coluber, Lin.) Body whitish, with four rows 

 0f red round spots, white in their centre ; four black spots on the 

 head. 15 inches long. Inhabits S. America. Shaw, iii. 404. 



C. Lachesis, Cuv. Body yellowish-gray, variegated with brown, 

 with loose carinated scales ; head indistinct, and short tail. 4 to 

 5 feet long. Inhabits Ceylon Shaw, iii. pi. 105. 



C. Clotho, Cuv. Body grayish-orange, with numerous transverse 

 undulated black bands ; beneath ash-coloured, with black varie- 

 gations. 6 feet long. Inhabits Ceylon. Shaw, iii. 401. 



Gen. 29. VIPERA, Cuv. Coluber, Lin. 



Scales on the head rough or granulated ; plates under the belly 

 divided in two under the tail ; poisonous fangs in the upper jaw, 



