718 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XVIII. 



Volume (clearly a krait though peculiar in colouration) is called 

 "Seu walaley." "Seu" or "Sew" means "brown." The same 

 authority* says this snake is called " gedi paragoodoo " further north 

 about Vizagapatam. Mr. J. M. Turing, Deputy Commissioner at 

 Vizagapatam, to whom I lately appealed for information, says the 

 words are Telugu, " gaddi " meaning " grass," and " parugudu " a 

 "runner." He suggests that this is the same snake known about 

 there as " tutte purugu," the Telugu for "rubbish reptile." 

 Russell's other name for this species in this locality, viz., " pakta 

 poola " he can throw no light on. 



I have frequently heard it called "krait " or "karait " by natives 

 but am not sure whence these names emanate. Sampwallahs journey 

 far from their own homes, and coolies and some of one's household 

 servants too, and many will consequently make use of these names in 

 a locality where they may not be known. Kalian, the snake catcher, 

 I knew in Delhi always called this species " krait," but Major 

 McMahonf says "krait is I presume merely an English corruption of 

 the Urdu word kalgundait. If not it must be a Bengali corruption 

 of it, as no native of Delhi would understand you if you spoke of the 

 karait or krait." I have had "kalgundait" given me by a native of 

 Karnal in the Punjab for the Zamenis diadema, but there seems little 

 doubt it is the Urdu name for the krait. I find Baboo Awmoola 

 Ruttum Bysach in his work on medicine written in Urdu gives the 

 name for this krait which he mentions by its scientific name ecernleus 

 and describes, as " kala gandait." He says the "kala" means black, 

 and that "gandait" refers to the white lines across it. I cannot 

 however find confirmatory evidence of such a word in Urdu. He also 

 gives as one of its names "dhaman chitti," "chitti'' I find means 

 speckled or variegated. These names "chitti" and "dhomum" or 

 " dhorana chitti " are also mentioned by Fayrer J and Ewart§ as being- 

 used in Bengal. It must be noted that " chittee " is the name applied 

 according to Russell to a very different snake in Bengal, viz., Helicops 

 schistosus.^l A European subordinate who had been many years in 



* Loc. cit., Vol. I., p. 2. 



f Fayrer's Thanatoph. Ind., p. 11. 



+ Loc. cit., p. 122. 



§ Ind. and Australn. Snake Poisoning, 1871, p. LXXVII. 



1 Loc. cit. II., plate IV. 



