73 



frequenting the branches, I propose to call Hamadryas. Its charac- 

 ters induce me to assign it a place between the genera Naja, Lau- 

 renti, and Bimgarus, Daudin, which two forms it will be found to 

 connect together. 



Hamadryas. 



Caput latum, subovatum, deplanatum, rostro brevi obtuso, scutis 



quindecim superne tectum. 

 Buccce tumidse. 



Oculi magni prominentes, pupilld rotunda. 

 Nares late apertse, duorum scutorum in confinio. 

 Oris rictus peramplus, subundatus. 

 Tela antica, pone qua dentes maxillares. 

 Collum dilatabile. 

 Corpus crassum, teres, squamis Isevibus, per series obliquas dis- 



positis, imbricatim tectum. 

 Cauda brevis, apice acuto, scutis et scutellis tecta. 



Hamadryas Ophiophagus. Ham. superni olivaceo-viridis, siriis 

 sagittalibus nigris cinctus, abdomine glauco, nigra marmorato. 



Scuta abdominalia a 215 ad 245 

 Scuta subcaudalia a 13 ad 32 

 Scutella subcaudalia a 63 ad 71 



Hab. Bengal. 



Hindustanee name, ' Sunkr-Choar.' 



" For the description and anatomical details, I beg to refer to my 

 provisional description, published in the Asiatic Researches, vol. xx. 

 p. 87., while I shall here confine myself to some general remarks 

 upon the haliits, the effects of the poison, and the history of this 

 serpent. 



" The Hamadryas, like the Bungarus, Hydrus, and Hydrophis, has 

 a few maxillary teeth behind the poison-fangs, and thus like the lat- 

 ter connects the venomous serpents with isolated poison-fangs to the 

 harmless, which possess a complete row of maxillary teeth. 



" Of the terrestrial venomous serpents the Bungarus is chiefly cha- 

 racterized by a distribution of the teeth similar to that of the Hama- 

 dryas, which, also partaking of the chief characteristic of the genus 

 Naja, viz. that of forming a hood or disc, constitutes an immediate 

 link between the genera Bungarus and Naja. 



" In consequence of the strong resemblance in the general appear- 

 ance between the Naja and the Hamadryas, when first my attention 

 became attracted to the latter, I thought I could refer this serpent 

 to that genus ; and it was not until I was able to examine a speci- 

 men whose poison-fangs were untouched (those of the first speci- 

 mens I saw having been drawn by the natives, who are greatly 

 afraid of this serpent), that I discovered the maxillary teeth behind 

 the poison-fangs. 



" Hamadryas ophiophagus differs from the Naja tripudians : 



1. By its maxillary teeth. 



2. By the strongly developed spines on the os occipitale inferius. 



