THE COBRA DI CAPELLO. 517 



powers are likewise impostors. The following narrative of Mr. H. E. 

 Reyne, quoted by Sir J. E. Tennent in his Natural History of Ceylon, 

 seems to be a sufficient proof that the man did possess sufficient power 

 to induce a truly poisonous serpent to leave its hole and to perform 

 certain antics at his command : " A snake-charmer came to my bungalow 

 in 1854, requesting me to allow him to show me his snakes dancing. 

 As I had frequently seen them, I told him I would give him a rupee 

 if he would accompany me to the jungle and catch a Cobra that I knew 

 frequented the place. 



" He was willing, and, as I was anxious to test the truth of the charm, 

 I counted his tame snakes, and put a watch over them until I returned 

 with him. Before going I examined the man, and satisfied myself he 

 had no snake about his person. AVhen we arrived at the spot he played 

 upon a small pipe, and after persevering for some time out came a 

 large Cobra from an ant-hill which I knew it occupied. On seeing the 

 man it tried to escape, but he caught it by the tail and kept swinging 

 it round until we reached the bungalow. He then made it dance, but 

 before long it bit him above the knee. He immediately bandaged the 

 leg above the bite, and applied a snake-stone to the wound to extract 

 the poison. He was in great pain for a few minutes, but after that 

 it gradually went away, the stone falling off just before he was re- 

 lieved. 



" When he recovered he held up a cloth, at which the snake flew, 

 and caught its fangs in it. While in that position the man passed his 

 hand up its back, and, having seized it by the throat, he extracted the 

 fangs in my presence and gave them to me. He then squeezed out 

 the poison on to a leaf It was a clear oily substance, and when rubbed 

 on the hand produced a fine lather. I carefulJy watched the whole 

 operation, which was also witnessed by my clerk and two or three 

 other persons." 



One ncL^oble peculiarity in the Cobra is the expansion of the neck, 

 popularlycrJicJ the hood. This phenomenon is attributable not only to 

 the skin cinu muscles, but to the skeleton. 'About twenty pairs of the 

 ribs of the neck and fore part of the back are flat instead of curved, 

 and increase gradually from the head to the eleventh or tw^elfth pair, 

 from which they decrease until they are merged into the ordinary curved 

 ribs of the body. 



When the snake is excited it brings these ribs forward, so as to 

 spread the skin, and then displays the oval hood to the best advantage. 

 In this species the back of the hood is ornamented with two large eye- 

 like spots, united by a curved black stripe, so formed that the whole 

 mark bears a singular resemblance to a pair of spectacles. 



It is rather curious that many persons fancy that the Cobra loses a 

 joint of its tail every time that it sheds its poison, this belief being 



44 



