544 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XV HI. 



(b) English. — I know of no English name in general use but 

 have seen it alluded to as the Common brown Tree-Snake in 

 some books. This title is too long and it is doubtful whether it 

 might not be equally applicable to its larger brother species D. 

 forsteni. I would suggest the name Gamma snake, the markings on 

 the body in a typical specimen are very like the Greek letter * and 

 specially those on the left side. On the right, however, the long 

 stroke of the letter is sloped the wrong way. 



(c) Vernacular. — The name quoted for it by Russell* about Viza- 

 gapatam is " Tar tutta". In Malabar it was frequently called 

 tl Choorta". 



Dimensions. — It grows to two-and-a-half f'eet.f The longest of 

 .some 25 measurements made by me were 2'-7", 2'-6£", 2'-6|" and 

 2-6", and all of these specimens were females. The largest # of 

 some 20 examples in which I have recorded the sex was 2'-lf ". I 

 had another $ 2'-0f". 



Physiognomy and Bodily Configuration. — The head is subcordate or 

 subtriangular in shape, being widest at a point about midway between 

 the eyes and the neck, and is flattened (i.e., depressed). The snout 

 is rounded ; the laterally placed nostrils occupy the second and 

 third-fifths from above downwards of the suture between the nasals 

 and are wholly or almost wholly contained in the anterior of these 

 shields. The eye is large, the iris copiously flecked with mustard 

 yellow, and the pupil vertical. The neck is very constricted, prob- 

 ably (in common with others of this genus) more so than in any other 

 colubrine snake within our limits. The body is slender throughout ; 

 it increases gradually in girth from the slender neck, and as grad- 

 ually attenuates towards the vent. Its vertical markedly exceeds its 

 lateral measurement (i.e., the body is compressed). The tail is evident, 

 especially so in females, a considerable reduction in girth occurring 

 at the vent. It is of moderate length, varying from rather more 

 than one-seventh to one-fifth the total length, and is distinctly 

 longer in females than males, a peculiarity I have not noted in the 



* Ind. Serp., 179G, p. 20, and Plate XV. 

 t Blyth (Journal Asiatic Soc. Bengal, Vol. XXIII, p. 294, footnote) says that it attains to 

 about 6 feet, but this is obviously a mistake, probably a printer's error, for bis record of the 

 length of the youns;, viz., about 9 inches, is in accord with my own supposition, and in con- 

 sonance with the proportionfl of hatcblings in other snakes of dimensions similar to that 

 given by me for this species, viz., two-and-a-half feet. 



