INDIAN SERPENTS. 
29 
The largest of the laminae is situated behind the nostrils, of a broad shield-form, and sepa¬ 
rated from them by two minute, orbicular, laminae, at each corner. 
The mouth wide; the jaws nearly of equal length, the lips thickisli. The tedh regular, 
reflex, slender; some of the anterior in the lower jaw thicker and longer than the others: a 
marginal, and two palatal rows, in the upper jaw. 
The eyes large, oval, prominent, distant from each other; the nostrils small, round, sepa¬ 
rated by a pair of small triangular laminae. 
The trunk round, the scales small, smooth, ovate, imbricate; but two or three rows nearest 
the scuta, are larger and orbicular. 
The length , seven feet two inches and a half; the circumference of the thickest part of the 
trunk, eight inches. The tail , round, short, and tapers to a sharp point; in length, nine 
inches and a half. Both scuta and squamae acuminated, and remarkably small. 
The colour of the head dark-cineritious, with a deep brown, oblique, streak, behind each 
eye ; and a large, dark, spade-form spot, with a narrow streak in the middle, on the hind 
head. The neck, trunk, and tail, covered universally with large, dark, spots, of various 
irregular forms, edged with black, on a light-brownish ground, which is the prevalent co¬ 
lour. The spots on the tail are somewhat lighter than those on the trunk. The scuta and 
squamae are of a dusky yellow hue. 
OBSERVATIONS. 
This snake was sent to me in February, 17 88, from Ganjam, by Captain Gent, the engi¬ 
neer, who had kept him captive some time, and fed him with eggs and raw flesh. He was 
transported in a cage, into which a living fowl had been put, by way of provision on the 
road; but the fowl arrived safe, though, from the marks remaining on the snake’s head, he ap¬ 
peared to have been unmercifully pecked by the fowl on the journey. Perhaps he was tamed 
by captivity; and indeed seemed remarkably sluggish. He hissed furiously when provoked, 
but without snapping; and, while with me, he never touched the food put into the cage. 
When forced to bite fowls, the wounds were attended with no consequence; and 
when left at liberty with pigeons or chickens, the snake seemed intent only on making his 
escape. 
