DIPSAS MULTIMACULATA. 311 



lips and throat yellow, each shield with a black margin ; belly sometimes marbled with black, 

 sometimes entirely black. 



This fine species properly belongs to the fauna of the East Indian Archipelago, being found 

 in all the larger islands ; but it extends to the Malayan Peninsula, Singapore, and Pinang. 

 It attains to the large size of 7 feet, the tail being rather less than one-fourth. 



DiPSAS BUBALiNA. (Plate XXIV. fig. E.) 



Seba, ii. p. 87. tab. 83. fig. 1. 



Vipera bubalina, Klein, Tent. Herpet. p. 21. 



Triglyphodon cyaneum, Dum. ^ Bibr. vii. p. 1079. 



Dipsas nigromarginata^ Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. xxiii. p. 294. 



Scales smooth, with a single apical groove, in twenty-one series, those of the vertebral 

 series hexagonal. Ventrals 249-252; anal entire; subcaudals 124-134. Nostril round; 

 loreal rather higher than long. One pifeocular, just reaching the upper surface of the head ; 

 two postoculars. Eight upper labials, the third, fourth, and fifth of which enter the orbit. 

 The temporals appear to vary somewhat in arrangement, 3 + 3 + 3 ; only the two upper of 

 the anterior are in contact with the oculars. Each maxillary is armed with ten or eleven 

 teeth, which gradually become somewhat longer behind, the last grooved ; palatine teeth not 

 enlarged ; the three or four anterior teeth of each mandible considerably longer than the 

 following. Uniform green above ; the skin between the scales and the inside of the mouth 

 black. Lower parts uniform greenish olive. 



This is a rare snake : a specimen in the Liverpool Museum ii said to be from China. 

 According to Blyth, it is an inhabitant of Assam. Our specimen is 53 inches long, the tail 

 measuring 14 inches. 



Mr. Blyth mentions a small snake obtained "in the neighbourhood" (of Calcutta 1), 

 18 inches long, and names it Dipsas hexagonotus (Journ. As. Soc. Beng. 1856, xxiv. p. 360); 

 " it was bright ruddy ferruginous, inclining to coral-red ; paler below, and mottled with black 

 bordermg some of the scales of the upper parts. Head green, throat white ; a slight blackish 

 occipital streak. Ventrals 247 ; subcaudals 126 ; series of scales 21." Mr. Blyth adds that 

 "it probably grows to a large size, and may become wholly green." If this be the case, 

 how does it differ from D. hubalina, which has been named D. nigromarginata by the same 

 author \ 



Dipsas multimaculata. 



Russell, Ind. Serp. ii. tab. 23, 



Dipsas multimaculata, Schleg. Phys. Serp. ii. p. 265. pi. 11. figs. 4 & 5, and Abbild. taf. 45. 

 figs. 13-15. Cantor, Mai. Rept. p. 76. 



Scales in nineteen, sometimes in seventeen series, smooth, with a narrow apical groove ; 



