75 



pents several times during the year. The Hamadryas is very fierce, 

 and is always ready not only to attack but to pursue when opposed ; 

 while the Cophias, the Vipera, the Nnja, and the Bungarus, merely 

 defend themselves, which done, they always retreat, provided no 

 further provocation is offered. The natives of India assert, that in- 

 dividuals are found upwards of twelve feet in length, a statement 

 probably not exaggerated, as I have myself seen specimens from eight 

 to ten feet in length, and from si.x to eight inches in circumference. 

 I have often heard it asserted, that ' Cobras' (which name is natu- 

 rally enough given to every hooded serpent,) have been met with of 

 an enormous size, but I strongly doubt their belonging to the genus 

 Naja : among a considerable number which have come under my ob- 

 servation, I never saw any exceeding five to six feet in length, while 

 the common size is about four feet. Some time before I discovered 

 the Hamadryas, I was favoured by J. W. Grant, Esq., of the Hon. 

 Company's Civil Service, with an interesting description of a gi- 

 gantic hooded serpent he had observed in the upper provinces, and 

 which, he remarked, was not a Naja. By inspection this gentleman 

 denied the Hamadryas to be identical with the above-mentioned. 



" The natives describe another hooded serpent, which is said to 

 attain a much larger size than the Hamadryas, and which, to con- 

 clude from the vernacular name, ' Mony Choar', is perhaps another 

 nearly allied species. 



" The fresh poison of the Hamadryas is a pellucid, tasteless fluid, 

 in consistence like a thin solution of gum arabic in water ; it red- 

 dens slightly litmus paper *, which is also the case with the fresh 

 poison of the Cophias viridis, Vipera elegans, Naja tripudians, Bun- 

 garus annularis and Bung, caruleus : when kept for some time it acts 

 much stronger upon litmus, but after being kept it loses considerably 

 if not entirely its deleterious effects. 



" From a series of experiments upon living animals, the effects of 

 this poison come nearest to those produced by thatof theiYa/a<ri/7M- 

 dians, although it ajjpears to act less quickly. I'he shortest period 

 within which this poison proved fatal to a fowl, was fourteen mi- 

 nutes ; whilst a dog expired in two hours eighteen minutes after 

 being bitten. It should however be observed, that the experiments 

 were made during the cold season of the year." 



A specimen of the present genus {Hamadryas), in the Collection 

 of the Society, was upon the table, having been presented to the 

 Museum by Sir Stamford Raffles, but without any facts respecting 

 its history, or the locality in which he had procured it. 



* " M. Schlegel asserts (loc. cit. p. 34,) tlie veiioin is ' ni alcalin ni acide.' The 

 only way in which I can account for tliis mistake from a man who ranks among 

 the first Erpetologists, is by supposing that M. Schlegel himself never had an 

 opportunity of testing the poison of a li\ing serpent ; for besides the five above- 

 mentioned genera of Indian venomous serpents, I found the fresh poison of dif- 

 ferent species of marine sei-pents {Hydrus) to possess the property of turning litmus 

 paper red. The same fact with the Crotalus is noticed by Dr. Harlan, who says, 

 ' The poison of the living Crotalus tested in numerous instances with litmus paper, 

 &c. invariably displayed acid properties.' (Vide Harlan, Medical and Physical Re- 

 searches, p. 501, sq.)" 



