INDIAN SERPENTS. 
19 
OBSERVATIONS. 
The figure was drawn exactly from the specimen received ; but from the stricture 
and distortion of the subcaudal squamte, where the scuta terminate, I was led to suspect 
that the nipple-form end of the tail was an accidental deformity. The suspicion has 
since been confirmed by two different drawings made in India, and I choose therefore 
to refer to No. XVII. (a small specimen of the same species) for a more correct repre- 
sentation of the tail, which from the resemblance of its point to the head, has obtained 
for the serpent the name of double-headed. 
Captain Hardwick (lately arrived from Bengal), among many excellent drawings, has 
got one of this serpent ; and his written description, in the number of subcaudal scuta, 
agrees exactly with mine. In the small specimen, however, (No. XVII.) the scuta 
amount to twenty-eight. 
The specimen was received from the Rev. Mr. John, of Tranquebar ; but the serpent 
is not uncommon in Bengal. In the former place, its bite is said to produce leprosy; 
an effect often ascribed, by the natives, to many other serpents which have no poisonous 
organs ; at the latter, it is with more justice deemed perfectly harmless. 
Mr. John preserved one of three feet, for more than a twelvemonth, in an earthen 
pot filled with earth, which was changed once a month. “ During the whole time, he 
“ gave it no food ; and except that the thick tail was somewhat extenuated, the animal 
“ suffered no apparent alteration. In its movements it was very slow ; it generally lay 
“ coiled up sluggishly with its head under the belly, was not easily roused, and never 
“ showed a disposition to bite.” 
It may be remarked, that in the Linnean system, subcaudal squamae constitute a 
generic character of Coluber, in like manner as subcaudal scuta do of Boa; “ but 
“ in some few species of Colubri, exclusive of the usual subcaudal scales, are a few 
“ scuta, or undivided lamellae, either at the beginning or towards the tip of the tail.”* 
Of this anomaly, two instances (No. XXXIX. and XL.) occur in the Coromandel 
collection. 
The general habit of the present subject is that of Anguis ; but the unusual breadth 
of the abdominal as well as subcaudal scuta, and the number of the latter in proportion 
to the scales on the under surface of the tail, seem to exclude it from that genus. I have 
therefore classed it with the Boae, and named it after the respectable missionary who 
sent me the specimens, to whom I lie under obligation for many communications. 
* Shaw’s Zool. Vol. III. p. 364. 
