MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES, &C, 
is 
On approaching - an almost dry drain, I saw this snake slowly ex¬ 
tending - its coils, raising - his head, and steadfastly gazing on what I saw 
to be an eel of about a foot in length. The eel was directly opposed 
to the snake, and glance seemed to meet glance, when the snake, 
haying gained the requisite proximity, darted on the eel and caught 
it about an inch behind the head, and carried it off, but the captor ivas 
soon himself the captive, for with a blow on his head I secured both. 
POWER OP THE COBRA TO PROJECT ITS VENOM, AND INFLAMMA¬ 
TION OF THE MUCOUS MEMBRANE THEREBY EXCITED. 
Coluber Naia. L., or Cobra dr Capello, or hooded Cobra is ea¬ 
sily distinguished by its power of raising and protruding its anterior 
ribs so as to give its neck a flattened, broad and somewhat fringed 
appearance. At present this snake is very commonly met with on the 
tops of hills in and near our Bungalows, on account of the continued 
wet weather, and is as well known as it is dreaded by the natives. 
On examining its mouth, in the roof and in a recess of the mu¬ 
cous membrane will be found 2 fangs pointing backwards, and which 
in the unexcited state of the animal lie flat in the groove, hut by a 
muscle attached to the upper part of each f mg, they can be raised 
and fixed at an angle of 45 wifcu the Palate. One reason of this 
pointing backwards of the fang is to prevent the regurgitation of the 
food, when the animal has a large object in its mouth partly swallow¬ 
ed ; if the fangs assisted by the teeth did not so act like the catch 
on a wheel, the muscles of the throat would force back the object 
before it was sufficiently prepared to be swallowed. This arrange- 
so useful to the animal, is a great boon to mankind, for a snake of 
this description unless it can enclose a part of the body such as a 
toe, a finger or the tendon of the heel will not be apt to poison the 
individual, as the bite from the 2 rows of teeth has no dangerons 
results. From the groove in the fang a duct proceeds, to terminate 
in a gland which secretes the poison and is situated in the tem¬ 
poral region, below and behind the eye and at the junction of the 
jaws. This gland has a separate part of the temporal muscle de¬ 
dicated to compress it by its contractions, and propel! the poison 
from the gland along the duct into the fang. When the animal has 
