10 NAJA. 



aggressive ; and unless interfered with or irritated, they crawl along the 

 ground with the neck undilated, looking not unlike innocent snakes ; 

 but the moment they are disturbed, they assume the menacing attitude 

 I have described. 



" The Naja Tripudians (the only species), or Cobra, grows to the 

 length of five feet and a half, or even more. On one occasion I received 

 a living female cobra from Nagpore, C.P., sent by Dr. W. B. Beatson. 

 It was of the variety called ' Kurrees Gokurrah,' of a light chocolate 

 colour, withoiit any mark on the hood. It was five feet eight inches 

 long, including the tail, which measured eleven and a quarter inches. 

 In girth it was six and a quarter inches. It was very powerful and 

 fierce, and Dr. Beatson told me that it killed a fowl in one minute. 



" This was the largest cobra I have seen, but I believe they attain 

 even a greater size than this. The cobra is found all over Hindostan 

 up to eight thousand feet high in the Himalaya ; but Mr. Hodgson says 

 he has never seen it in the Nepaul valley.* It is equally dreaded and 

 fatal everywhere. The varieties are numerous, and they are distin- 

 guished by the markings on the hood, and by various shades of colour, 

 from the darkest olive or black, with a purple iridescence, to a pale 

 chocolate, fawn, or yeUow colour. They are all, notwithstanding their 

 difierences of colour or marking, considered by naturalists to be but 

 varieties of one species. They have various names in different parts of 

 India, and are regarded by the snake-catchers as different species, and 

 as having different powers of destruction. Such differences most likely 

 depend on age, vigour, or other circumstances, as naturally the intensity 

 of the poison of the different varieties is probably about equal. 



" The cobra is a nocturnal snake — that is, it is most active in the 

 night ; but it is often seen moving about in the day. It is oviparous ; 

 the eggs, from eighteen to twenty-five in number, are obovate, and 

 about the size of those of a pigeon ; the shell is white, but tough and 

 leathery. The cobras feed on small animals, birds' eggs, frogs, fish, or 

 insects ; they rob hen-roosts, and swallow the eggs whole ; they prefer 

 taking their food at dusk or in the night. They are said to drink a 

 great deal of water ; but it is certain that they will live weeks, even 

 months, in captivity, without touching food or water. They go into 

 * Fayrer has seen it in the Oude Terai. 



