2 
DESCRIPTION OF 
The colour , a very dark blue, brightening a little in certain lights, while in others it 
appears almost black: but the trunk and part of the tail, are variegated by cross, curve, 
dotted, white, lines, at unequal distances; varying, however, in number, in different sub¬ 
jects, from forty-two to fifty. The squamae, towards the abdomen, are of a dun colour; the 
scuta, abdominal as well as sub-caudal, of a yellowish white. 
OBSERVATIONS. 
The Gedi Paragoodoo is not uncommon at Vizagapatam: I have met with it also at Boni; 
and young ones were sent to me from Masulapatam, under the name of Cobra Monil. 
The natives of India, who commonly exaggerate the noxious properties of their snakes, 
assert that its bite produces immediate death; the truth of which I was led to suspect, from 
finding, on repeated trials, that it seldom killed chickens in less than half an hour, and dogs 
in less than one hour and ten minutes. 
A more particular account of experiments on its poison, will be given hereafter, among 
those on the poisons of other venomous serpents. It need only be remarked here, that 
it appeared to be slower in its operation than the poison of the Cobra de Capello, as well 
as that of the Coluber, next in malignity, called Katuka Rekula Poda; and was generally 
observed to produce less violent convulsions, but a greater degree of stupor than either 
of them. 
No. II. 
BOA. 
Abdominal Scuta 1501 
\ 115 . 
Sub-caudal Scuta 25 J 
Called by the natives Horatta Pam. 
The head broader than the neck, but much smaller than the middle of the trunk; 
depressed, obtuse, broad-ovate ; covered with very small, carinated, ovate scales, without 
any large laminae. 
The mouth small; the lower jaw somewhat shorter than the upper. Two rows of palatal 
teeth, above, but no marginal row: the fangs, proportionally long; one on each side emer¬ 
gent from the sacs. 
The eyes lateral, large, orbicular, very forward. Nostrils close on the rostrum, distant 
from each other, roundish. 
The trunk gradually swelling from the neck, and tapering towards the tail, is at the 
middle two inches and a half in circumference. The scales carinated, oval, imbricate; but 
