Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, and of Kindred Terms, Etymological, Historical, Geographical and Discursive c10.349

c10.349

In fact the oldest authority that we have met with, the famous John Ray, distinctly assigns the name, and the serpent to which the name properly belonged, to Ceylon. This occurs in his *Synopsis Methodica Animalium Quadrupedum et Serpentini Generis*, Lond. 1693. In this he gives a Catalogue of Indian Serpents, which he had received from his friend Dr Tancred Robinson, and which the latter had noted *e Museo Leydensi*. No. 8 in this list runs as follows:—