ON THE COMMON INDIAN SNAKES. 719 



the Kheri District (U. P.) and knowledgeable in discriminating snakes 

 told me that it is known locally there as " goohooan." 



Colour and marks. — In this form there are closely set white linear 

 arches thrown across the back, arranged more or less distinctly in pairs. 

 These are much more perfect and conspicuous in the posterior part 

 of the body, and tail. At midbody or further forward they gradually 

 fade especially laterally, and may become replaced more anteriorly by 

 white vertebral spots, or may even completely disappear. The black 

 on the back is lustrous, and if the light be allowed to glance on it 

 appears even bluish, hence the name cozruleus. The top of the head 

 is black, fading to white on the lips. The belly is white like mother 

 of pearl in its entire length including the tail to its extreme tip. The 

 young of cceruleus show more white. Not only are the arches poste- 

 riorly more conspicuous than in adults but they are often unusually 

 apparent in the anterior half of the snake, and there is often a partial 

 or complete white collar, and some white on the top of the head. Two 

 white bands too pass upwards from the 2nd and 5th supralabials, the 

 former in front of, and the latter behind the eye. 



In adults specimens occur in which the black is tinged more 

 or less deeply with brown, and I have seen one specimen from 

 Fyzabad in which the black had a metallic lustre, resembling 

 that of black lead on a grate compared with the purer black on a 

 polished boot. 



Russell* figures a curious specimen from Tranquebar, in which the 

 body is dark-brown, the anterior six or eight inches uniform buff, and 

 the linear arches bluish. It suggests to me the possibility of having 

 been preserved in some chemical, or that the specimen was an old 

 spirit one. I have in many small collections and museums seen 

 specimens in which the spirit had been allowed to evaporate, and the 

 specimens kept in a strong light. In such a case the black of the 

 krait fades to brown, and where left dry as often happens when the 

 head is suspended to the cork or stopper the colour fades to a tint very 

 like that shown in this illustration. Quite light specimens are occa- 

 sionally heard of which may be regarded as albinos. One such is 

 in our Society's collection, and Mr. Phipson drew my attention to it in 

 1904 when I was in Bombay. 



It must be emphasized, however, that though the ground colour is 



* Loc. cit., Vol. II, plate XXXI. 



