MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. . 865 



(6) Colouration. This is so variable that it carries little if any 

 weight in establishing many species, and I find cyanocinctus from Indiat 

 Coasts remarkably variable. 



Dr. Malcolm Smith may be perfectly correct in his view that the species 

 he has described as H. siamensis is valid, but I think it rests on a very 

 insecure basis, and is not supported by the facts I have explained above. 



F. WALL, LlEUT.-COLONEL, I. M.S. 



Bangalore, 2l5^ Juhj 1919, 



No. XXX.— NOTES ON SOME RECENT ADDITIONS TO OUK 

 SOCIETY'S SNAKE COLLECTION. 



On my return to India this year I was shown, while passing through 

 Bombay, a number of interesting snakes, which had been received by the 

 Society during the last few years. These had already been indentified by 

 Mr. Prater and two were recorded by him in the previous number of the 

 Journal, but nevertheless 1 have included them in these notes as I have 

 been able to add some additional information. 



Typhlops jerdoni (Boulenger) (= Typhlops diversiceps (Annandale) 



A well preserved specimen of this little known, and seemingly rare 

 snake, was presented to the Society's collection by Mr. J. M. D. Macken- 

 zie from Pegu. As all the other known specimens are from Hills, it 

 would be interesting to have further information concerning the exact 

 locality in Pegu (District i"). The specimen accords well with Boulenger's 

 description (Faun. Brit. Ind. 1890, p. 238), except in the following 

 points : — 



The rostral is more than one-fourth, but less than one-third the breadth 

 of the head at the eyes. The nasals shieltls just meet behind the rostral. 

 The prseocular touches the 3rd labial only. The diameter of the body is 

 about /tj the total length, the latter being 5^ inches. In a later descrip- 

 tion of the snake, Boulenger modifies his original observations, in a corri- 

 gendum (Cat. Snakes, Brit. Mus. Vol. I, 1893, p. 418) showing that the 

 prneocular touches only the third labial, and it may be remarked that this 

 is the only Indian species of the genus that shows this peculiarity. 



In 1891, Sclater (List. Snakes, Ind. Mus., p 2) reported a specimen 

 from Buxa Doors. Among collections of snakes belonging to the Indian 

 Museum, and submitted to me at various times by Dr. Annandale for 

 identification, I was able to examine, and confirm the identification of 

 Sclater's specimen. 1 found another labelled Lashio. N. Shan States. 

 The examination of Annandale's type of T. diversiceps from Pashighat, 

 Abor Hill (liec. Ind. Mus. Vol. Vlll, p. 44 and plate 1) shows that the 

 specimen is a verj^ typical one of T . jerdoni. The scale rows reported as 18 

 are in reality 22. The anterior nasal touches the first and second labials, 

 not the first only as reported. The pnoocular touches the 3rd labial only. 

 The diameter of the body is about 1,^ the total length. In this Journal (Vol. 

 XIX, p. 338), I reported a specimen from the Darjeeling neighbourhood 

 (Pashok or Tindharia) 9j inches long. 



The habitat at present known for the species is Eastern Himalayas, 

 Hills of Assam, Burma as far East as the N. Shan States. 



Coluber (Ablabes) pavo (Annandale). 



A very nice little specimen of this rare snake described in 1912 by Dr. 

 Annandale (Rec. Ind. Mus. 1912, Vol. VIII, p. 47, and plate) from a single 

 specimen captured in the Abor HiUs has recently enriched the Societys' 

 21 



