THE HAMADRYAD SNAKE. 307 



and body before the skin-shedding takes place. It has rather a robust body, and the head is scarcely 

 broader than the neck. It is flat above, and the upper lips protrude beyond the edge of the uppei 

 surface of the head ; hence the eyes appear rather small, giving a malignant and savage expres- 

 sion (Smith). The neck has a quantity of loose skin which forms a fold on each side, and this is 

 extended Cobra-fashion when the creature is enraged, and it is a kind of hood. Probably the 

 extreme length of the Snake is neai-ly three feet. The range of the Ring Hals Slang is consider- 

 able, and specimens have been found everywhere in South Africa. It is very vigilant, and its resting- 

 place can very rarely be approached before it is all activity, either commencing to fly, preparing to 

 maintain its ground, or make an attack. Its holes are in and about mouse, rat, and mole burrows, 

 and although it retreats, it is a valiant and very poisonous Snake. The natives properly consider it 

 the most courageous of all their Snakes, and one of the most poisonous. When in confinement and 

 irritated it evinces great ferocity, opens its mouth so as to be in readiness to seize any object, and the 

 poisonous secretion comes out in. drops from the fangs, which are raised and ready to strike. 



GENUS OPHIOPHAGUS. THE HAMADRYAD SNAKE.* 



A snake-eating Snake, with a beautifully shielded head and a neck dilatable like a Cobra's is, of 

 course, interesting, and especially when it is known that it grows to the length of fourteen feet, and 

 is bold and disposed to attack, instead of retreating, like the Naja. 



The body is largely scaled, and the head is short, depressed, and scarcely distinguishable from 

 the neck, which is dilatable. The body scales are smooth, minute, imbricate, and in transverse rows. The 

 plates on the head are very distinct, and the occipitals are surrounded by three pairs of large shields, 

 the two anterior being temporals. The ventral scales are entire, and there are more than two 

 hundred of them, and the posterior sub-caudals are two-rowed. The tail is slender, and becomes very 

 small at the tip. The maxillary bone has a large fang in front, which is perforated at the end, 

 showing a longitudinal groove in front. A second small, simple tooth exists at some distance behind 

 the fang. It is called " Sunkerchor " by the natives, and has a general resemblance to the Naja in 

 shape. The colour varies acording to age and locality. The young Ophiophagus may be mistaken for 

 a Snake of another genus, such as Dipsas dendrojrfiila, an innocent Snake. 



The Ophiophagus is probably the largest and most deadly of the Indian Snakes ; and, fortunately, 

 though widely distributed, it is not very common. According to Giinther, it is found in almost every 

 part of the Indian continent, and in the Andaman and Philippine Islands, in Java, Sumatra, Borneo, 

 and, according to Dumeril, in New Guinea. It reaches from twelve to fourteen feet in extreme length, 

 and is common near Cuttack, and there is a dusky variety from Rangoon. It does not appear to be 

 much if at all known in the North-west or in Central India ; it is most common in the damp 

 climates of Assam, Bengal, Orissa, and Southern India. It has been caught in the Botanical Gardens, 

 near Calcutta, and it is said by the snake-catchers to be not uncommon in the Sunderbunds, and it 

 takes to water. 



The dilatable neck is not altogether peculiar to the Snakes just mentioned, and Fayrer 

 observed that in Compsosoma radiatum, an innocent Snake, the neck and much of the whole body 

 dilate vertically when it is excited and about to strike, presenting a very remarkable appearance ; 

 but the power of dilating the neck is better marked in the Najidce than in any other Snake. Another 

 equally innocuous Snake, called Tropidonotus macrophthalmus, found in the Himalayas, has the power 

 of dilating the neck, and it greatly resembles the Cobra. 



An Ophiophagus in the Zoological Gardens of London knew its keeper and feeding-time. 

 When a Snake was put into its cage it was immediately on the alert, and the victim tried to escape. 

 But the attack was begun at once, and the prey was seized behind the head and dragged on to 

 the floor, and gradually swallowed head first. 



Besides the Ophiophagus, there is another snake-eating venomous Serpent in India, which lives 

 principally on others belonging to the innocuous Calamaria family. This is a ground Snake, 

 slow in its movements, and it prefers hilly to level country. Singularly enough, it greatly resembles 

 its prey in outward appearance, and belongs to the genus Callophis. 



* Ophiophayus daps. 



