Chap. IX.] 
SNAKES. 
301 
brilliancy as to surpass all known jewels. This in- 
estimable stone is called the naga-manik-kya ; but not 
one snake in thousands is supposed to possess such 
a treasure. The cobra, before eating, is believed to 
cast it up and conceal it for the moment; else its 
splendour, like a flambeau, would attract all beholders. 
The tales of the peasantry, in relation to it, all turn 
upon the devices of those in search of the gem, and 
the vigilance and cunning of the cobra by which 
they are baffled; the reptile itself being more en- 
amoured of the priceless jewel than even its most 
ardent pursuers. 
In Bennett's account of " Ceylon and its Capa- 
bilities" there is another curious piece of Singhalese 
folk-lore, to the effect, that the cobra de capello every 
time it expends its poison loses a joint of its tail, and 
eventually acquires a head resembling that of a toad. 
A recent addition to zoological knowledge has thrown 
light on the origin of this popular fallacy. The family 
of " false snakes " (pseudo typhlops, as Schlegel names 
the group) have till lately consisted of but three species, 
of which only one was known to inhabit Ceylon. They 
belong to a family intermediate between the serpents 
and that Saurian group commonly called Slow-worms or 
Glass-snakes ; they in fact represent the slow-worms of 
the temperate regions in Ceylon. They have the body 
of a snake, but the cleft of their mouth is very narrow, 
and they are unable to detach the lateral parts of the 
lower jaw from each other, as the true snakes do when 
devouring a prey. The most striking character of the 
group, however, is the size and form of the tail ; this 
is very short, and according to the observations of 
