MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 089 



continues (the main axis behind the second forking) are regenerated portions. 

 There is also a curious twist in the scaling at the second fork. 



G. A. D. STUART, i.cs. 

 Camp, Chingleput Dist., Madras, 

 26 th January 1908. 



No. XXIV.— NOTES ON THE COMMON INDIAN CROCODILE 

 (CROCODILUS PALUSTRIS). 



In the hope that the subject may be of some interest to members of your 

 Society, I beg leave to ask for the favour of any information you can give me 

 regarding a curious condition of the skins of crocodiles, which has recently 

 come under my notice. 



Several crocodiles shot in the Jumna near Delhi lately, by myself and some 

 of my friends, have had marks on their bellies which look like scratches, or 

 the cicatrices of sores ; and one had pinkish spots. These marks were only 

 on the belly and were not found on " Gharial " (Gavialis ganr/eticus), but 

 only on the crocodiles proper (C. palustris), which led me to believe that 

 they were the results of slight wounds received in climbing up steep banks 

 into brushwood, a' habit I have only observed among crocodiles, — the " Gharial" 

 confining themselves to mud-spits. But Messrs. Shewan & Co. of Cawnpore, 

 to whom I send the skins for tanning, state that they are sores, and that they 

 believe they are due to some epidemic disease which has broken out among 

 the '" muggars". They further state that they are receiving skins in the same 

 condition from several different parts of India, and that in 20 years' experience 

 of handling these skins, they have never seen anything like it before. 



I should be greatly obliged if you could throw some light on the subject, as 

 it seems to be beyond the knowledge of anyone, Native or European, that I 

 have been able to come across. 



P. E. BURN. 



Delhi, 2Uh February 1908. 



No. XXV. -EXTENSION OF THE HABITAT OF THE SNAKE 

 ZAMENIS FLORULENTUS. 



When Mr. Boulenger's Catalogue, Volume I, appeared in 1893, Zamenis floru- 

 lenlus had only been recorded from Egypt, where it appears to be a common 

 snake, as no less than 19 specimens were then preserved in the British Museum. 



A short time ago I received a specimen, which I identify as this snake, from Sir 

 A. H. McMahon obtained in Quetta, so that we must now include it among our 

 British Indian Ophifauna. 



It accords well with the description given in the Catalogue as regards lepi- 

 dosis, and colouring. 



The praioculars are two, the upper touching the frontal; beneath the lower 

 a subocular is wedged between the 4th and 5th supralabials. The supralabials 

 are 9, and the 5th and 6th touch the eye. There are three anterior temporals 



