222 
SNAKES. 
deep; these three features distinguish it from the blue adder or crait ( B. cceruleus} 
and the nearly allied Ceylon crait ( B. ceylonicus). The banded adder, or raj-samp 
(king-snake), ranges from Bengal to Java, and commonly measures about 4 feet 
in length, although it grows to 6 feet. In colour it is bright yellow, with 
black rings equal to or exceeding in length the light interspaces; while on the head 
a black band commences between the eyes and widens towards the nape of the 
neck; the tip of the muzzle being brown. The crait is of a dark, almost steel-blue 
black, or chocolate-brown, colour, with narrow white crossbars, streaks, or rings of 
white; the under surface being of a dark livid hue, or whitish or yellowish. It 
inhabits the whole of India, but is not so large as the raj-samp, which is probably 
as poisonous, though it does not come much into contact with human beings, and 
is, therefore, a less terrible destroyer of life. The crait frequently insinuates itself 
into houses, where it conceals itself in bathrooms, verandahs, cupboards, or between 
the bars of shutters; while an instance is on record where one was discovered 
coiled up beneath the pillow of a palki in which a lady had made a night’s journey. 
Next to the cobra, the crait is credited with killing more human beings in India 
than any other snake. 
c ^ The name “ cobra de capello,” or hooded snake, was applied by 
the Portuguese in Ceylon to the common Indian representative of a 
genus of deadly serpents distinguished from the craits by their power of inflating 
the neck, and likewise by the scales in the middle of the back not being larger 
than the rest. By Europeans these snakes are now generally known by the name 
of cobras. Agreeing with the craits in having the fangs furnished with a complete 
groove on the front surface, and likewise by the presence of from one to three 
solid teeth behind them, the cobras have the head distinct from the neck, and 
covered with large shields, among which the loreal is wanting; the eye being rather" 
small, with a round pupil. The body is cylindrical, with the smooth scales disposed 
in fifteen or more oblique rows; while the tail is of moderate length, with its 
inferior shields in either a single or a double series. The dilatation of the neck,, 
which always takes place when they are excited and about to strike, at once serves 
to distinguish the cobras from all other snakes. Cobras are confined to Africa and 
Southern Asia, and are represented by six or seven species, two of which are found 
in India and a third in Java and Borneo, the others being African. Of the Indian 
forms, by far the most abundant is the common or true cobra (Naia tripudians), 
which is known to the natives of India as the kala nag or kala samp (black snake). 
Distinguished by having no large shields on the head behind the parietals, and by 
the whole of the shields on the under surface of the tail being arranged in a double 
series, this snake is a very variable species as regards coloration, some examples 
having a dark spectacle-like mark on the back of the hood, while others have only 
a single eye-like spot, and others, again, have no mark at all in this region. In 
regard to coloration, Mr. Boulenger remarks that the hue of the upper-parts may 
be greyish brown or black, with or without a spectacle—or loop-shaped black 
light-edged marking on the neck—or with light spots or crossbands on the body; 
while beneath it varies from whitish, through brownish, to blackish, sometimes 
with black crossbars on the fore-part of the body. Occasionally attaining a length 
of a few inches over 6 feet, while an instance is on record where a specimen 
