ORDER OPHIDIA. 27^ 



their temples, on the two sides of a globe. It is 

 incontestably the serpent which the ancients have 

 described under the name of Aspic of Egypt., of 

 Cleopatra, ho.. 



The Elaps (Elaps, Schn., in part), 



Are vipers, with the head furnished with plates, 

 of an organization quite opposite to that of the 

 Naia. They are not only unable to dilate their 

 ribs, but even their jaws can hardly separate behind, 

 in consequence of the shortness of their tympanic 

 bones, and of their mastoidean bones especially, 

 from which it results that their head, like that of 

 tortrix and amphisboena, is altogether of a piece 

 with the body.* 



The most common species is 



Elaps Lemniscatus, ( Col, Lemniscatusy L.) Seba. I. 

 X. ult. et II. Ixxxvi. 3, 



Are marked with black rings, approximated to each 

 other, three by three, on a white ground. The 



* M. Schneider comprehended among his elaps all the serpents which 

 he supposed to be destitute of a separate mastoidean bone ; but of this he 

 judged only externally, by the small degree of swelling in the occiput. 

 Accordingly, this character is not found except in the tortrix of Oppel, 

 or the Ilysia: he also paid no regard to the scales or the venom, exk^j 

 "Eho-\, are Greek names of a non-venomous serpent. 



T 2 



