Читать книгу Venoms: Venomous Animals and Antivenomous Serum-therapeutics - A. Calmette - Страница 19

Head small, covered with large shields, a frontal as long as broad, a supraocular, a præocular, 3 postoculars, 2 + 3 or 3 + 3 temporals, 7 upper labials, 4 lower labials. Neck dilatable by the separation of the first cervical ribs; 21–35 scales round the neck, 17–25 round the middle of the body; 163–205 ventrals; 42–75 subcaudals.

Total length, 1,500–1,900 millimetres; tail 230.

Coloration very variable, usually cinereous grey or almost black with a bluish sheen; belly lighter, sometimes tinted with red. The head is frequently tinged with golden-yellow; it is spotted with yellowish-white above, and is pure white underneath.

This species is distributed throughout the whole of Southern Asia, from the south of the Caspian Sea to South China and the Malay Archipelago.

Fig. 25.—Skull of Naja tripudians. (After G. A. Boulenger, op. cit.)

Several varieties occur, and of these the principal are:—

(1) Var. Typica (fig. 27), with a black-and-white spectacle-shaped mark on the middle of the dorsal surface of the most dilatable portion of the neck, and one or more dark transverse bands on the ventral surface, behind the head.

Habitat: India, Ceylon.

(2) Var. Cæca.—Colour, pale brown or uniform dark grey, without mark on the neck, and with one or more dark transverse bands on the anterior part of the belly.

Habitat: Transcaspian region, India, Java.

Fig. 26.—Naja tripudians (Cobra-di-Capello) on the Defensive, preparing to Strike.

(3) Var. Fasciata.—Colour, brown, olive, or black, with more or less distinct light transverse bands. White spot edged with black in the shape of a ring or of a U on the neck, behind; a black spot on each side in front.

Habitat: India, Indo-China and South China, Hainan, Cambodia, Siam, Malay Peninsula.

(4) Var. Sputatrix.—Black or dark brown, with yellow or orange-coloured spots on the sides of the head and neck. The young have a pale spot in the shape of a U or an O on the middle of the dorsal surface of the neck, and the throat is whitish.

Habitat: Chusan Islands and South China, Burma, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java.

(5) Var. Leucodira.—Brown or black, without mark on the neck. Throat yellowish-white, followed by a black transverse band.

Habitat: Sumatra, Malay Peninsula.

(6) Var. Miolepis.—Brown or black; sides of the head and throat yellowish, no mark on the neck. Young with white rings completely encircling the body and tail.

Habitat: Sarawak, Labuan, Borneo.

Fig. 27.—Naja tripudians (Cobra-di-Capello). (After Sir Joseph Fayrer.)