14 
DESCRIPTION OF 
The remarkably long, slender, fangs, exposed on opening the mouth, betokened its being 
highly noxious; but the peasants who brought it, affirmed that its power of killing extended 
only to the smaller animals; not to dogs or sheep; and that to man, its bite caused various 
disorders, but never death. 
The experiments made on its poison, will be given in their proper place. 
No. X. 
COLUBER. 
Abdominal Scuta 1 43 
213. 
Sub-caudal Squama 10) 
Called by the natives Wanna Pam. Coluber Stolatus, Linn. Syst. Nat.fi. 37 9. 
The head somewhat broader than the neck, obtuse-ovate, depressed, rather short, covered 
with nine principal laminae, besides some smaller. The anterior pair, small, sub-rotund; 
the next irregularly pentagonal; the centra] lamina between the eyes narrow, shield-form, 
the lateral conical; the large posterior pair, oblique, oblong, semi-cordate, with two or three 
small laminae on each side. 
The mouth large, the lower jaw somewhat shorter than the upper. The teeth , small, sharp, 
reflex; a marginal, and two palatal rows in the upper jaw. 
The eyes large, orbicular, protuberant. The nostrils near the point of the rostrum, large, 
and open. 
The trunk round, invested with oval, thick-set, carinated, scales; two rows only next 
the scuta, not carinated. 
The length , one foot and a half; the circumference of the neck one inch and a fourth ; the 
trunk, where thickest, seldom exceeds two inches and a fourth. The tail tapers rapidly, the 
last inch becoming excessively slender: in length four inches and a half. 
The colour of the head and neck a very dark green; the cheeks and throat yellow. On 
the neck are two blackish bands, from which a yellowish-brown fillet runs on each side 
along the trunk and part of the tail, variegated with small white spots nearly at equal dis¬ 
tances, and opposite to each other. Besides these, most part of the trunk between the fillets, 
is adorned with broader, transverse, whitish bands ; and between the fillets and the abdomen, 
with waving, interrupted, longitudinal, white, lines. The ground colour between all these, 
approaches to black. From within a few inches of the anus, the trunk and part of the tail, 
retain only the plain, yellowish-brown fillet, on each side. The scuta and sub-caudal 
squamse are of a dull pearl colour, and the former often have a black dot on each side. 
