COLLECTION OF SNAKES IN THE NILGIRI HILLS. 553 



Its most characteristic features are low ridges of hills, with sharp 

 peaks (rising in some places to 6,000 feet) and extensive valleys. 

 Towards the east, where it merges into the plateau of Mysore, the 

 country becomes level. In the south-east the Ghats are low till 

 they meet the Nilgiris near Naduvattam ; on the west and south- 

 west, where the taluk joins the low country of Malabar, there are 

 several peaks of over 6,000 feet. The annual rainfall averages 130 

 inches, bat is much heavier in the west than in the east." 



I am indebted to Mr. Fletcher of Eockwood for a far more 

 detailed and lucid account of this terrain than can be gathered 

 from the excerpts just quoted. I have erased from this a few 

 sentences that were merely answers given to queries of mine, and 

 which have no general interest as my preconceived ideas were 

 hopelessly erroneous. 



" The Wynaad is a narrow belt of jungle country lying between 

 the Nilgiris and the Bramagiris. For the purposes of this argu- 

 ment its limits may be taken as coincident with the influence 

 of the south-west monsoon above the Ghats. On the 

 west the Sahyadris shut off" this plateau from the Malabar 

 plain : on the south (really south-east) the Kundahs separate it 

 from the higher plateau of the Nilgiris. It is, then, easy to see 

 why the species peculiar to the Wynaad caamot find egress to the 

 Malabar plain or the Nilgiri plateau. North (really north-west) 

 the Bramagiris form a dividing line between Wynaad and Coorg ; 

 and in this direction I should certainly expect the Wynaad snakes 

 to continue up through Coorg, and the Mysore country adjacent to 

 the Ghats, as far northwards as the physical conditions of altitude, 

 rainfall, and climate conform to those of the Wynaad. These hills 

 are neither very high nor very steep. The planting districts of 

 Coorg and Mysore (and possibly a stretch of country farther 

 north along the foot of Ghats) are so similar to Wynaad in every 

 respect, that you would do well to make quite sure the Wynaad 

 snakes are not found there. In these remarks you will see I take 

 it for granted that all the species you found confined to the Nilgiri- 

 Wynaad also occur in North and South Wynaad. I do this be- 

 cause the whole Wynaad belt has, practically, the same elevation, 

 the same rainfall, and the same climate ; and also because the 

 boundaries between the three Wynaads are merely lines drawn on 

 the map, and there is no natural barrier to confine the Wynaad 

 species to the Nilgiri- Wynaad. As I have not studied the ques- 

 tion, I cannot say definitely and from my own knowledge that the 

 species peculiar to Nilgiri- Wynaad are common to all three 

 divisions of the Wynaad, but I think this may safely be assumed. 

 Eastwards, the Wynaad plateau merges insensibly into the table 

 land of Mysore. There is nothing in the shape of a mountain 

 range to prevent the extension of the Wynaad snakes into the 



