COLUBER. 80? 
numerous, fliort, reflex; but the fore teeth in the margi¬ 
nal row, above, remarkably long. The eyes lateral, large, 
oval. The nodrils fmall. The trunk round, (welling 
elegantly from the neck to the tail; covered with oblong, 
oval, fmooth fcales. The length two feet four inches and 
a half; circumference two inches one fourth. The tail 
very taper, (lender, and fliarp pointed. The head is of 3. 
light brown ; a yellow ftreak behind each eye ; the trunk 
and tail are ftriped with feven longitudinal bands, or fil¬ 
lets ; of which the middlemolt, and the two exterior to¬ 
wards the belly, are of a darker brown, with a greenifli 
cad, and broader than the others ; two of the other four 
are almolt black, and two of a greenifh yellow. The 
fcuta and one half of the fquamte neared them are of a 
draw colour; and a fmall, darkifh-green, thread runs 
along each fide of the fcuta and fub-caudal fquamae, to 
near the end of the tail. Among the natives this fpecies 
bears a bad charadler, but it certainly po(fe(fes no poifon- 
ing organs. Abdominal fcuta 176, lub-caudal fquamse 
88 ; total 264. 
96. Coluber ambiguus, the ambiguous viper; a native 
of America, four feet fix inches and a half long, white, 
the upper part variegated with round broad brown (tripes, 
the under part lighter with brown and black. It has 189 
abdominal fcuta, 64 fub-caudal fquamas, making 253. It is 
fuppofed by l'ome authors to be poifonous ; by otheis not. 
97. Coluber emeus, the fecret viper; a terrible and 
much-dreaded ferpent, of a great length, cruel in its bite, 
and fatal in its poifon. It is happily a rare fpecies, and 
oftener talked of than feen even in the country where it 
is indigenous. Indeed its fagacity, in hiding from the 
puriuits of the Indians, who take them to carry about as 
?. (how, is faid to be very extraordinary. They fecrete 
themfelves in impenetrable thickets, and in the branches of 
trees of the larged foliage. But this inftinft is certainly 
given more for the purpofe of lying in ambufli for its 
prey, than for (hunning or avoiding danger; yet it flies 
from the face of man, and turns not upon the deferifive 
until it is attacked ; then it erefts its crefi, bids defiance 
with a drong hiding noife, and difplays the utmod cou¬ 
rage and vigour. It bears a drong refemblance to the 
cobra de capello: like that viper, it is furnifhed with a 
dilatable (kin on the neck, and, like it, when irritated, 
has the faculty of enlarging or fwelling it out to a vad 
fize, much larger than any other part of the body; but it 
differs in not having upon this hood the pirfpicillum, or 
fpeftacle-fliaped mark, infeparable from the other fpecies. 
The head is broad and obtufe,- the crown deprefled, co¬ 
vered with, a large and drong pair of central laminse, fur- 
rounded" with much fmaller on the fides and in front, but 
terminated at the hindhead by a feries of fine white fcales, 
forming a broad band round the poll. This is the com¬ 
mencement of the inflated hood on the neck, which has 
the appearance of an open net work, of reddifit brown 
and white. The whole body is covered with dole 
thick-fet fcales, and is of one yellowifli uniform brown 
colour, except the belly, which is white. It is a native 
of the Ead Indies, and the ifland of Ceylon. 
98. Coluber naja, or naja vi'per; the cobra de capello 
or hooded ferpent of Hindoodan. The drong refemblance 
of this to the coluber ccecus, as well in fize, form, and co¬ 
lour, as in its general habitudes has induced feveral na- 
turalids to clals idiem together. The viper-catchers in 
the Ead Indies bring numbers of thefe lerpents to the 
Englifn fettlements, where they are fold after-eradicating 
their fangs, and are carried about for (how. It is a mod 
malignant viper, fatally venomous, and unfortunately 
abounding in great plenty in the Ead Indies, in Ceylon, 
and the Ternate Ides ; infomuch that it not unfrequently 
attacks people in their gardens, and even in their houfes. 
The defeription given of it by Linnaeus is as follows : the 
head.is mailed with drong laminae; the head deprefled, 
and the mouth blunt; the body of a cinereous yellow, 
fome of the fcales dotted with white ; the (kin on the 
fore part between the fixth and twelfth abdominal fcuta 
dilatable, (when the animal is provoked,) into a flat orbi- 
cular expand, marked with a white diaphanous (peftacle- 
fliaped figure, margined with black. It is furniflied with 
193 abdominal fcuta, and 60 fub-caudal fquamas; in all 253. 
Mr. Pennant, in his View of Hindoodan, vol. i. p. 197, in¬ 
forms us, that the cobra de capello grows from four to 
eight or nine feet in length, and is judly dreaded by the 
natives. That the mortal eftedt fometimes takes place 
in a quarter of an hour, fometimes in two or three 
hours. That an univerfal gangrene enfues, and the 
fle(h falls from the bones; convuliions fometimes bring 
on death, according to the degree of virus, on which the 
fymptoms depend. The poifon of this viper, in its dele¬ 
terious effeft and rapidity, is reckoned next in order to 
the cobra monil, and the rattle-lnake, which fee under 
Crotalus. 
Of this viper, and its varieties, the mod authentic and 
circumdantial defeription has been lately publifhed by 
Dr. Rufiell; from whofe valuable work we feleft the fol¬ 
lowing particulars. Among the ferpents of the Ead In¬ 
dies, the cobra de capello holds a principal place. It is 
generally reckoned of all others the mod deadly : the oc- 
cafional expanfion of the (kin of the neck in the form of a 
hood, afeertains its identity to the mod fuperficial ob- 
ferver; and as it is every where in the country exhibited 
publicly, by way of diow, it is of courfe more univerfally 
known than perhaps any other of the race of reptiles. 
The natives of India pretend to diftinguifh a great num¬ 
ber of varieties of this ferpent, to which they aferibe dif¬ 
ferent degrees of malignity ; but, on examination, the 
venomous property appears to be nearly equal in all. 
Though many of the varieties vary, yet in general they 
have 185 abdominal fcuta, and 57 fub-caudal fquamse; in 
all 242. It is called by the natives cbinta nagoo ; and by the 
Englifh, in Hindoodan, cobra de capello. The head is 
hardly broader than the neck, (hort, broad-ovate, obtufe ; 
the crown deprefled; from the eyes contracted, comprefled 
and declining to the rodrum. Covered with ten prin¬ 
cipal laminae : the fird in front of the rodrum, triangular, 
the bafe emarginate ; the pair between the nodrils alfo 
triangular; the next pair larger, fub-femicircular; the 
central lamina between the eyes, broad (hield-form ; the 
lateral, conical; the femi-cordate pair, (lightly acumi¬ 
nate : the fcales on the occiput fmall, orbicular and oval. 
The mouth large ; the lower jaw fomewhat (horter than 
the upper. Th.e teeth, few in the lower jaw, (harp, re¬ 
flex, at regular didances, except in front, where two or 
three appear clofer fet, and longer : in the upper jaw, (as 
ufual in other venomous fnakes,) there is no marginal 
row, only two palatal rows of teeth, numerous, reflex, 
equal, (harp, fmaller than thofe below. Two fangs, one 
longer than the other, are generally found emergent from 
the fac on each fide. The eyes rather fmall, lateral, orbi¬ 
cular, prominent. The nodrils very near the apex of the 
rodrum, lateral, large, gaping. The neck, when the ani¬ 
mal is at red, is very little thicker than the head ; but the 
loofe (kin of the neck being capable, in a peculiar man¬ 
ner, of extenfion, forms, when the animal is provoked, 
what is called the hood, which conditutes the principal 
character of the fpecies. The fpeCtacle-like mark on the 
hood, is partly formed by the colour of the interllitial 
(kin, difeovered in confequence of the feparation of the 
fcales; but the tint of the fcales themfelves contributes 
alfo to produce this figure, efpecially in refpeCt to the 
dark colours; and hence the mark remains in fome 
degree vifible in the collapfion of the (kin, after death. 
The trunk is round, covered with fcales comparatively 
fmall, oval, poliflied, contiguous, hardly (except on the 
hinder part and tail) imbricate, in the living lubjeCt ; but 
two rows on each fide of the belly confid of larger fcales, 
ovate, and imbricate. The length four feet and upwards ; 
the circumference of the middle of the trunk, four inches. 
The tail round, meafures nine inches, covered with fub- 
orbicular fcales, and tapers gradually to a fliarp horny 
point. The colour, a yellowiih light-brown; but in cer- 
