414 A DESCRIPTION OP 
which the venom flows. The body is covered with small 
round scales, and is of a greenish colour, bordered with 
brown ; its neck is capable of inflation. The jugglers of 
Egypt, by pressing this Asp on the nape of the neck with 
the finger, throw the animal into a kind of catalepsy, 
which renders it stiff and immoveable; when they say that 
they have charged it with a rod. The habit which this 
species has of raising itself up when approached, induced 
the ancient Egytians to believe that it guarded the fields 
where it was found ; and it is sculptured on the gates of 
their temples as an emblem of the protecting divinity of 
the world. - 
The Hooded Serpent or Cobra di Capello, is from three 
to eight feet long, with two long fangs hanging out of the 
upper jaw. It has a broad neck, and a mark of dark 
brown on the forehead ; which, when viewed frontwise, 
looks like a pair of spectacles; but behind, like the 
head of a cat. The eyes are fierce, and full of fire ; the 
head is small, and the nose flat, though covered with very 
large scales, of a yellowish ash-colour; the skin is white, 
and the large tumour on the neck is flat and covered with 
oblong smooth scales. This serpent is extremely dreaded 
by the British residents in India, as its bite has hitherto 
been found to be incurable, and the patient generally dies 
in half an hour. 
