In England we have so few snakes, viz. the ring snake, the coronella, and one viper, and these three so distinct, that we are not likely to be perplexed with many varieties; but in tropical or semi-tropical regions, where closely-allied species abound, it may be suspected that _hybrids_ not unfrequently create confusion as well as a multiplication of supposed ‘species’ not likely to cease. In our small London collection, hybrids have been produced at least twice within a few years; and we fear that the habit of hibernating in mixed multitudes leads to some immorality among the Ophidia. It is like the overcrowded dwellings of the poor, and the ‘free-lovers’ of America; and perhaps to ophidian unions between congeners occasionally may be traced not a few of the varieties which so curiously and closely blend different species and are a plague to classifiers. This is mere speculation. The Indian vernaculars are as abundant and perplexing as those of Brazil. Of the cobras, Sir J. Fayrer says there are many varieties which the natives consider different species. ‘The snake charmers are poor naturalists, and disseminate many false notions as well as dangerous ones about the cobras.’ In the _Thanatophidia_ nine or ten varieties are figured, all of the one single species (_Naja tripudians_), though all bear different vernaculars. The two chief distinctions in the markings are the spots on the back of the ‘neck,’ which, when the hood is distended, are easily distinguished. One with a single ocellus is the _Keautiah_, known as ‘Kala samp,’ ‘Nag samp,’ etc., being chiefly of the field or jungle. The other with the double ocellus is the ‘spectacled cobra,’ and essentially of the town. This is the ‘Gokurrah’ of the natives, and the favourite of the snake charmers. Being common all over a country which boasts of thirty-six written languages, the reader can imagine the number of vernaculars bestowed upon the _Cobra capella_. The _ophiophagus_ is almost equally favoured, as this snake also varies in colour, particularly in the young ones, which Fayrer affirms might easily be mistaken for a different species. Probably wherever snakes abound, the vernaculars are correspondingly numerous. ‘And after all which _is_ the Curucucu, and which _is_ the Jararaca?’ Being the proud possessor of both, I may describe them from nature; but conflicting opinions as to their identity still exist, because there are features in common among congeneric species, and what one author may decide is the _Curucucu_ another will call the _Jararaca_. Dumeril, Gray, Günther, and other modern ophiologists have, however, so far simplified difficulties, as to recognise only one of each in our zoological collections, notwithstanding the liberal use of both terms in Brazil.