40 



Shape — Head : short and rounded. 



Body : anterior ribs elongated and capable of 

 being erected so as to dilate the skin of the 

 neck into the well-known hood. 

 Tail : rather short. 



Eye : moderate with round pupil. An erect 

 short poison-fang. 

 Head shields — Supra-labials 7. 



The 3rd supra-labial touches both the nasal 



shield and the eye. (Fig. 11.) 

 The prse-ocular shield touches the internasal. 

 Between the fourth and fifth infra-labial shields 

 a small wedge-shaped scale occurs called the 

 "cuneate." (Fig. 11 c). The cuneate occurs 

 in no other land snake. 

 The fourth and fifth infra-labials are the largest 

 of the series and about subequal. No loreal. 

 Scales — The number varies. At the neck 31—33, 



middle of body 19—27. 

 Ventrals — 184 to 197 ; anal entire. Sub-caudals 53 — 69, 



divided. 

 Colouring — Very variable. May be any shade from 

 buflP or wheat-colour to olive, brown, black or 

 even green. The hood may be without marks 

 or may have the spectacle-like device or an 

 oval spot surrounded by an ellipse or various 

 modifications of these. The ellipse is gener- 

 ally seen in the Burman variety. The mark 

 is on the skin, not on the scales. 

 Hahitat-^India and Burma. A very common snake. 



THE HAMADRAYAD OR KING COBRA {Naia Bungarus). 



Length— Grows to 12 feet. One is recorded of over 15 

 feet. 



