88 



SKETCH OF AN UNDESCPilBED 



are of a drab color, edged with black. The integuments of the upper part 

 of the head as well those of the side and of the chin, are represented in the 

 accompanying drawings. The muzzle obtuse, rounded, with a wide semi- 

 circular opening for the tongue, which organ is black, thick, bifurcate. 

 The nostrils lateral, wide, between 2 shields. The eyes prominent, large, 

 brilliant ; golden iris, round pupil, surrounded by .3 postorbital, 2 prseorbi- 

 tal and 2 labial (the 4th and 5th from angulus oris) shields. The upper lips 

 covered with 7, the under lips with 8 shields. The mouth large ; in the 

 upper jaw, a little longer, than the lower, 2 rows of palatal, sharp, reflex, 

 distant teeth : two fangs on each side, covered as usual with a duplicature 

 of the palatal membrane, behind those a few (3-5) maxillar teeth. Two 

 rows of sharp, reflex teeth in the lower jaw. The neck dilatile, (^) though 

 in a less degree, than that of the Naja tripudians, so that the hood or disque 

 of this Serpent, is comparatively more oval, narrower, but thicker, than the 

 hood of the latter. The back of the hood is covered with oval smooth scales 

 of an olive green color, those which cover the black skin with a black 

 margin, those covering the white skin of a lighter colour and without black 

 edges. The anterior part of the hood is formed by the first 16 to 18 abdo- 

 minal scuta, of a reddish yellow color, and the two lowest rows of scales, 

 between which appear two black spots on each side, formed by the intersti- 

 tial black skin. The trunk thick, cylindrical, tapering towards the tail, 

 covered with 21 oblique ranges of smooth, imbricate scales of 3 different 

 shapes (PI. XII. Fig. E.) Their color is olive green ; the interstitial skin 

 is partly black, partly white, disposed in such a manner, that it forms a 

 number of bands, converging in the direction of the head ; the black pre- 

 valent towards the tail, near which the colors become much more bright, 

 which is in general not the case with Serpents. The broad abdominal 



( ' ) The power of dilating the skin of the neck and thus forming a hood or disque is a cha- 

 racteristic of the genus Naja, LaxjRENTI, of which two distinct species are known, viz. the Naja 

 tripudians, with a number of varieties, most of which are mentioned and figured by 

 Russell, and the Naja haje. Coluber haje, Linne, L'Aspic, the Aspis of the Classics, repre» 

 sented by Geoffroy St. Hilaire, and Savigny, in " Description de I'Egypte," 



