DIPSAS GOKOOL. 313 



DiPSAS MULTIFASCIATA. 



Dipsas multifasciata, Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. 1861, xxix. p. 114. 



A specimen, of unknown origin, very closely allied to D. trigonata, lias been considered by 

 myself as a variety of that species, and is mentioned as var. B. in the ' Colubrine Snakes,' 

 p. 175. A second specimen of this snake appears to have been observed by Blyth, and as he 

 has assigned to it a specific name, we record it as a separate species, the validity of which 

 still requires further confirmation. 



It agrees in every respect with B. trigonata but in coloration : its natural ground-colour is 

 bro\Mi, and grey after the loss of the epidermis ; some scales along and near the vertebral 

 series yellow or black ; other scales on the sides are black, forming narrow, irregular vertical 

 streaks, about seventy-five in number ; the lower parts are checkered with black. Two tem- 

 porals are in contact with the postoculars. Ventrals 247 ; subcaudals 106. 



Blyth's specimen was captured at Subathoo : ours is 25 inches long, the tail being one-fifth 

 of the total length. 



Dipsas gokool. 



Dipsas gokool, Gray, Ind. Zool. c. fig. 



cynodon. Cantor, Mai. Rept. p. 77 (the young specimen). 



Scales smooth, in twenty-one series, those of the vertebral series much enlarged, subqua- 

 drangular. Ventrals 224-225; anal entire; subcaudals 87-94. Nostril of moderate size, 

 round. Loreal square ; one prseocular, sometimes divided into two, not extending to the 

 upper surface of the head ; two postoculars. Eight upper labials, the third, fourth, and fifth 

 of which enter the orbit. Temporals 2 + 3+3 ; the upper of the anterior ones is in contact 

 with the oculars. Each maxillary is armed with about ten teeth, which gradually become 

 somewhat longer behind, and with two posterior grooved teeth ; the teeth of the palatine 

 bones and the three anterior of the lower jaw are a little longer than the following. Yellow- 

 ish brown : head with an arrow-shaped brown, black-edged mark, longitudinally divided into 

 two by a yellow line ; its point rests on the anterior frontals ; a rounded black spot on the 

 nape, between the two barbs of the arrow-shaped mark ; a black streak runs from the eye 

 to the angle of the mouth ; a straight yellow vertebral line ; on each side of the trunk a 

 series of about fifty black erect Y-shaped marks ; lower parts yellowish, with an irregular 

 series of brown spots along each side. 



Having now seen two specimens of this snake which are perfectly alike, viz. the typical 

 specimen of D. gokool and that of I), cpiodon (i/oung), Cantor, I cannot hesitate to consider it 

 as a valid species, distinguished from D. trigonata by large vertebral scutes and by a peculiar 

 coloration. It is scarce at Pinang and in Bengal. The larger specimen is 33 inches long, the 

 tail measuring 7 inches ; it had fed on a mouse. 



2 s 



