724 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY } Vol. XV. 



Kurrachee harbour which he called Distira GUlespice. 



On the 5th March this year I had 

 a specimen of this evidently rare 

 snake brought me by a fisherman I 

 employ to collect fur me in Canna- 

 nore. When questioned he doubted 

 whether he had ever seen a similar 

 snake before. My specimen almost 

 exactly accords with Mr. Boule ti- 

 ger's description, and plate, but as 

 the snake is so rare, and there ap- 

 pear to me some additional points 

 worthy of mention, perhaps a repeti- 

 tion of the characters on my own 

 lines may be of interest. 



The snake, a male, measures 4 feet 

 2| inches, of which the tail accounts 

 for 4f inches. It was brought alive 

 and unscathed in a chatty, and 

 proved to be remarkably active and 

 strong, freeing itself repeatedly from 

 the grasp of my long metal tongs. 

 Removed from its native element 

 the forepart of the body is freely 

 and actively mobile, but progression 

 is almost nullified by the weight 

 and conformation of its hinder 

 parts. 



General Characters. — The head is- 

 of the same calibre as the anterior 

 part of the body. The snout pro- 

 jects well over the chin. The eye 

 is small, situated laterally, with a 

 slight inclination upwards, and the 

 iris during life was too dark to per- 

 mit of the shape of the pupil being investigated. After immersion inspirit 

 the pupil is seen to be round. The commissure of the mouth is peculiar 

 viewed in profile, resembling an italic / with the curves exaggerated, and the 

 anterior convex upwards. The neck shows no constriction behind the head. 

 The body is cylindrical and of nearly uniform calibre in about its anterior half, 

 when it rapidly increases, acquiring a markedly compressed character and 

 heavy form, the depth of the snake at its greatest girth being about four times 

 that in its anterior part. The tail as in other hydrophides is markedly flattened 

 from side to side (compressed). 



Distira Gillespice. 



