92 ELAPS LEMNISCATUS. 



By Wagler this genus has been removed from among the poisonous 

 serpents, with which it had been associated by Daudin, Cuvier, 

 and Merrem, and placed among the innocuous of the family 

 Ophidii Colubrini, inasmuch as on a careful examination of nume- 

 rous individuals he discovered that they were entirely destitute of 

 poisonous fangs. E. Langsdorfii, however, is furnished with one 

 larger tooth in the upper jaw, and the species here represented, 

 which was drawn from a specimen in the collection of Mr. 

 Bell, and obtained by him from Berbice, has generally been 

 regarded as extremely poisonous. This elegant species grows to 

 the length of about two feet. It is of a beautiful pale yellow 

 rose-colour, marked throughout the whole length, by annular 

 bands of a deep brown or black, entirely surrounding the body, 

 and each separated from the next adjoining one by a narrow 

 white stripe, or line of the ground colour. The head is small, 

 rather flat, covered with large plates, and marked by a blackish 

 transverse band in front across the eyes, and a similar band over 

 the occiput ; the rostrum is obtuse, and the opening of the mouth 

 rather small. The body is cylindrical, of the thickness of a swan's 

 quill, and covered with smooth, shining, rhomboidal scales ; the 

 tail is short and gradually tapers to the tip. This species varies 

 considerably in the colour of its zones ; in some individuals they 

 are tinged with a rich crimson hue ; in a specimen figured by 

 Seba, they are purple. 



According to Daudin, the Elaps lemniscatus is indiginous to 

 Guiana and Surinam, where it is much dreaded, and has occa- 

 sioned the tortrix scytale, and the black banded coluber to be also 

 objects of terror, in consequence of the similarity of their forms 

 and colour, although the latter reptiles are perfectly harmless. It 

 is probably the serpent called orouconcou by the negroes of Surinam, 

 whose poison is very active. Stedman relates that a slave having 

 been bitten in the foot by one of these animals, in less than a 

 minute his leg began to swell, he experienced the most excru- 

 ciating pain, convulsions came on, and he expired soon afterwards. 

 The same traveller remarks, that in general, at least in Guiana, 

 the smaller the snake the more fatal is the poison, as is beautifully 

 observed by Thompson : 



