NAIA TRIPUDIANS. At err. The cobra di capello snake, common in all parts of British India, Ceylon, the Malay Peninsula. It is a genus of the Elapidx. There are two va rieties, and its synonyms are N. atra, Cantor, N. Kaonthia, Less., N. larvata, Cantor, N. lut escens, Lour., and N. sputatrix, Rein. When the . cobra rises in play or for amusement, it spreads out the skin of the neck, from which it gets the Spanish name of cobra di capello, in English the hooded-snake. The spectacled or bin-ocellate variety of the cobra has its neck, on the steel-brown skin, marked with a white, black edged ci or C, enclosing at either extremity a black oeellus, which is only seen when the hood is expanded. It is found in Southern India and in Burma? It grows to 5} feet. The mono cellate, or one-marked cobra, has a plain -white ocellus, with black centre and margin, and grows to 4i feet in length. It is the cobra of Central
India and Burma. The cobra is worshipped by all the races following Hinduism, and by nearly all the non-Aryan races in British India, and its form, as an idol, with one, three, or nine heads, in stone or brass, may be everywhere seen. It is generally represented bending over the idol of the lingam. The cobra sometimes swims out to sea. It is said that the poison can be combated by injecting potash into the veins, but, owing to the rapidity of the poison's action, this, even if true, is valueless. Notwithstanding this, the natives of Ceylon do not kill the cobra when caught, but enclose it in a mat bag with some boiled rice for food, and place it thus in a flowing stream. In Gujerat the Hindus do not kill this or any other snake. See Cobra ; Naga ; Reptiles ; Serpent.