SNAKES 0E CEYLON. 459 



Naia triptjdeans (Merrem). 



(Latin,." tripudio " I dance on the toe.) 

 The Cobra. 



Tamil : " Nalla pambu " (good snake) and " naga pambu." 

 Sinhalese : " naya " (Ferguson). 



Synonymy. — Coluber naia, C. csecus, C. rufus, C. peruvii, C. 

 brasiliae, Naja lutescens, N . fasciata, N. brasiliensis, N. siamen- 

 sis, N. maculata, N. nonnaja, N. kaovthia. N. larvata. N. atra, 

 N. oxiana, Vipera naja, Elapsfuscus. 



History.— "Depicted by Seba in 1734 (I.. Plate XLIV.), and 

 again in 1735 (II., Plates LXXXIX. and XCVIL), then by 

 Linne in 1754 and 1767. Later in 1768 Laurenti referred to it. 

 Russell figured it twice in his first volume (Plates V. and VI.) 

 in 1796, and again in his second volume (Plates I. and 

 XXXVI.) in 1801. 



General Characters. — Grows to about 6 or 7 feet. Head 

 strongly depressed, broad behind the eyes, swollen over the 

 poison glands. Snout short, slightly declivous, with obtuse 

 canthus, rounded terminally. Eye moderate, with iris more 

 or less speckled with gold. Nostril rather large, open. Neck 

 fairly evident. The forebody remarkably dilatable to form 

 the hood. Body depressed, with shallow groove down the 

 spine, attenuating someAvhat to the vent. Belly rounded. 

 Tail cylindrical, accounting for about one-fifth to one-ninth 

 the total length. 



Identification .—The contact of the pra?ocular shield with the 

 internasal in front and the eye behind is one infallible method 

 of recognizing it. Another is the presence of the little cuneate 

 scale wedged between the 4th and 5th infralabials. This is, 

 however, rarely absent. A third way is to count the costal 

 rows. If 27, 25, or 23 two heads-lengths behind the head, 

 25 or 23 at midbody, 17 or 15 two heads-lengths before the 

 vent, and the loreal is absent, there can be no doubt as to its 

 identity. 



If a typical hood mark is present, either ot the monocellate 

 or binocellate type, the diagnosis is also easy, but in many 



64 6(6)20 



