CHAP. III.] SNAKES. 195 



upper jaw fixed to the skull as in mammals and birds, 

 instead of movable as amongst the true ophidians. In 

 this they resemble the amphisba3nidas ; but the tribe 

 of Uropeltidce, or " rough tails," has the further pecu- 

 liarity, that the tail is truncated, instead of ending, like 

 that of the typhlops, in a point more or less acute ; 

 and the reptile assists its own movements by pressing 

 the flat end to_jhe ground. Within a very recent period 

 an important addition has been made to this genus, by 

 the discovery of five new species in Ceylon ; in some 

 of which the singular construction of the tail is de- 

 veloped to an extent much more marked than in any 

 previously existing specimen. One of these, the Uro- 

 peltis grandis of Kelaart, is distinguished by its dark 

 brown colour, shot with a bluish metallic lustre, closely 

 approaching the ordinary shade of the cobra ; and the 

 tail is abruptly and flatly compressed as though it had 

 been severed by a knife. The form of this singular 

 reptile will be best understood by a reference to the 

 accompanying figure ; and there can be, I think, little 

 doubt that to its strange and anomalous structure is to 

 be traced the fable of the transformation of the cobra 

 de capello. The colour alone would seem to identify 



DROPELTIS ORANDIS. 



the two reptiles, but the head and mouth are no longer 

 those of a serpent, and the disappearance of the tail 

 might readily suggest the mutilation which the tradition 

 asserts. 



The Singhalese Buddhists, in their religious abstinence 

 from inflicting death on any creature, are accustomed, 

 after securing a venomous snake, to enclose it in a 

 basket woven of palm leaves, and to set it afloat on a 

 river. During my residence in Ceylon, I never heard 



o '2 



