INDIAN SERPENTS. 
7 
COLUBER.* 
In this division of the East Indian Serpents, the Cobra de Capello holds a principal place. 
It is generally reckoned of all others the most deadly: the occasional expansion of the 
skin of the neck in the form of a hood, ascertains its identity to the most superficial observer; 
and as it is every where in the country exhibited publicly, by way of show, it is of course 
more universally known than perhaps any other of the race of reptiles. 
The natives of India pretend to distinguish a great number of species of this serpent, to 
which they ascribe different degrees of malignity, and apply distinct names; but, after 
taking the trouble of examining nearly a score of these supposed species, I found the specific 
marks in most of them so vague, and the venomous property appeared, from experiments, 
so nearly equal in all, that I thought it superfluous labour to prosecute the inquiry further. 
I shall, therefore, after describing one species at some length, only add a few remarks on the 
other varieties. 
No. V. VI. 
COLUBER. 
Abdominal Scuta 1 85 'l 
ig42. 
Sub-caudal Scuta 5 7 J 
Called by the natives Cftinta JVagoo; Coluber .JS'aja, Linn, Syst. Nat. p. 382; and 
Cobra de Capello , Seb. Mus. 2. 
The head , hardly broader than the neck, short, broad-ovate, obtuse ; the crown depressed ; 
from the eyes, contracted, compressed, and declining to the rostrum. Covered with ten 
principal laminae: the first, in front of the rostrum, triangular, the base emarginate ; the pair 
between the nostrils also triangular; the next pair larger, sub-semicircular; the central 
lamina between the eyes, broad shield-form; the lateral, conical; the semi-cordate pair, 
slightly acuminate: the scales on the occiput, small, orbicular, and oval. 
The mouth large ; the lower jaw somewhat shorter than the upper. The teeth, few in the 
lower jaw, sharp, reflex, at regular distances, except in front, where two or three appear 
closer set, and longer: in the upper jaw, (as usual in other venomous snakes,) there is no 
* It should be recollected, that the Coluber, in like manner as the Boa, is furnished with abdominal scuta; but the tail, 
instead of scuta, is furnished with sub-caudal squamae, which are counted not singly, but by pairs : thus 120 squamae are 
reckoned 60 . 
