102 THE HOODED SNAKE. 



top by a very large and conspicuous patch resem- 

 bling a pair of spectacles. The usual colour of 

 the Hooded Snake is a pale rusty brown above* 

 and beneath a blueish white, tinged with yellow. 

 The tail tapers to a slender and sharply-pointed 

 extremity. 



When it is irritatedorpreparingtobite, this animal 

 raises up the fore part of its body, bends down its 

 head, and seems, as it were, hooded by the expand- 

 ed skin of the neck : hence its name of Cobra di Ca- 

 pello, or Hooded Serpent*. 



From its frequently moving along with great part 

 of its body erect, and with, its head in continual 

 action, as if looking aroundwith great circumspec- 

 tion, this species is- in India esteemed the emblem 

 of prudence. It is also an object of superstitious 

 veneration among the Gentoo Indians, founded on 

 some traits of legendary mythology : they seldom 

 name it without adding some epithet, such as the 

 royal, the good, the holy. Some of them are 

 happy when they see it running about their houses ; 

 from whence many have received irreparable in- 

 juries ; for it is very possible to hurt it unintention- 

 ally, either without seeing it, or during sleep, and 

 it immediately revenges itself with fury. Its bite is 

 sometimes mortal in two or three hours, especially 

 if the poison has penetrated the larger vessels, or 

 muscles. — A dog bitten by one of them died in 

 twenty-seven minutes ; and another, larger, sur- 



* Shaw's Gen. Zool. iii. 



