74 



3. By tlie integuments covering the head. 



4. By the integuments covering the abdominal surface of the tail. 



5 . By its colour. 



6. By its size. 



"According to the natives the Hamadryas feeds chiefly upon other 

 serpents ; in one I dissected I found remains of a good-sized Mo- 

 nitor, which fact may account for its. arboreal habits, as I have in 

 Bengal, along the banks of the rivers, observed numbers of those 

 large lizards among the branches of trees watching for birds. 



'.' ^}^^ power of abstaining from food, generally speaking, so charac- 

 teristic of the serpents, is but in comparatively small degree possessed 

 by this species ; the most protracted starvation amounts to a period 

 of about one month, while the Vijiera eleguns, the Naja tripudians, 

 and the Bungarus annularis, have, without inconvenience, been con- 

 lined in cages without any food for more than ten months. Two 

 specimens of the Hamadryas in my possession were regularly fed by 

 giving them a serpent, no matter whether venomous or not, every 

 fortnight. As soon as this food is brought near, the serpent be- 

 gins to hiss loudly, and expanding the hood rises two or three 

 feet, and retaining this attitude as if to take a sure aim, watching 

 the movements of the prey, darts upon it in the same manner as the 

 Naja tripudians does. When the victim is killed by poison, and by 

 degrees swallowed, the act is followed by a lethargic state, lasting 

 for about twelve hours. Such of the other Indian venomous ser- 

 pents, the habits of which I have had opportunity to study from hfe, 

 show themselves much incHned to avoid other serpents, however 

 ready they are to attack men or animals, when provoked or driven 

 by hunger ; and I am not aware of any other of those serpents being 

 recorded as preying upon its own kind. A short time ago, however, 

 during my sojourn at the Cape of Good Hope, I received fi-om high 

 authority the following fact, which throws a light upon the habits 

 of the Naja of southern Africa, one of which, when being captured, 

 threw up the body of a Vipei-a arietans (Vip. brachyurus, Cuvier). 

 which bore marks of having been submitted to the process of di- 

 gestion. 



''The Hamadryas, like the greater number of Indian serpents, 

 evinces a great partiality to water ; v,'ith the exception of the tree- 

 serpents (Leptoplmia, Bell), they all not only drink, but also moisten 

 the tongue, which, as this organ is not situated immediately in the 

 cavity of the mouth, become in the serpents two different acts *. Spe- 

 cimens of this serpent in my possession changed the skin every third 

 or fourth month, a process which takes place in all the Indian ser- 



* M. Schlegel is of opinion that serpents never drink. (Essay sitr la Physiogn. 

 des Sflrpens, Partie Generate.) As mentioned above, I have had opportunities of 

 ascertaining that tlie greater number of Indian serpents are verv fond of water, 

 a fact wliicli I am aware has also been observed in tlie African "serpents by the 

 eminent naturalist Dr. A. Smith, whose valuable fliscoveries, which he is at present 

 engaged in pubhsliing, will bring to hght many facts, of which we are at present 

 111 almost total ignorance concerning the habits of animals, particularly those of the 

 Reptiles. 



