THE POISONOUS SNAKES OB' INDIA. 



303 



or more or less variegated. The hood may be without marks, or 

 adorned with a spectacle-like device, or an oval spot surrounded by an 

 ellipse, or various modifications of these. 



Na>a bungarus — The Hamadryad or King Cobra. 



Identification. — A pair of large shields are in contact with one another 

 behind the parietals — see Oc, Fig. 18, and this alone will serve to 

 distinguish this from every other snake.* Even if the head is badly 

 mutilated I think this feature will be made out. In case, however, the 

 point is dubious, the snake will be known by the existence of the 

 following 2 characters which must co-exist. The shields under the 

 base of the tail are entire, whilst those towards the extremity are divided, 

 and the vertebral row of scales is similar in size and shape to the 

 adjacent rows. 



Pra _ Pa 

 S Po 



B 



Fig. 18. — Naia bnn»arus (§ nat. size}. 



Supplementary characters. — Prefrontals touch the in tern a sal, posterior 



nasal, praaocular, supraocular, and frontal. Temporals — Two, the lower 



touching the 5th, 6th and 7th supralabials. Sxipralabials 7. Anterior 



sublinguals touch 4 infralabials. Posterior sublinguals touch the 4th 



* In almost every other sn ike the pariet.ils are succeeded by small scales, and in the rare 

 exceptions where occipitals are present, they do not tonch one another (see Oc, Fig. 13). 



