INDIAN SERPENTS. 
45 
The length , four feet ten inches; circumference of the neck, two inches; of the middle 
of the trunk, live inches one fourth. 
The tail round, short, (measuring only seven inches and a half,) taper, pointed. The sub- 
caudal squamae, thirty-six in number, are followed by twenty-eight complete scuta, between 
which and the point, are six (or three pair of) squamae. 
The predominant colour , brown. All along the back are large, roundish, spots, of a light 
brown in the middle, the edges of a yellowish-brown; the sides are variegated by brown 
spots on a whitish ground, which brightens in approaching the belly. The scuta are of a 
pearl-white. 
It is pretended, that though the bite of the Bora does not prove mortal in less than ten or 
twelve days, it is very soon followed with eruptions on different parts of the body. 
OBSERVATIONS. 
The Bora of Bengal bears a strong resemblance, in many circumstances, to the Pedda 
Pocla, (No. XXIV.) formerly described. The description of the sub-caudal squamae and 
scuta, (supposing it to be constant,) forms indeed a material distinction; but in the laminae 
of the head, and the spurs near the anus, there is a pretty exact agreement: not to mention 
the number of abdominal scuta, which differs only nine, and the sub-caudal squamae and 
scuta, which, taken together, differs only two. 
The spurs in both seem in all respects alike; and Mr. Russell, who kept the snake alive 
for some time, had an opportunity of examining them particularly. 
That its bite ever proves mortal, seems highly improbable ; and the effect of producing 
cutaneous eruptions, is so often by the natives ascribed to the bite of snakes which are 
known to be harmless, that their reports of that kind are always to be received with due 
caution. 
No. XL. 
COLUBER. 
Abdominal Scuta, I 45 
Sub-caudal Scuta 2 1 ] 
\ 49 
Sub-caudal Squavue 2 8 J 
Called by the natives Hurriah. 
The head scarcely broader than the neck, ovate, obtuse, depressed; towards the rostrum, 
compressed. The laminae, (including the one in front of the rostrum,) in number ten, but 
vary somewhat from the usual forms. The first, triangular; the first pair perforated by the 
nostrils; the second, oblong-oval; the central lamina, between the eyes, obverse-ovate; the 
