PSAMMOPHIS CONDANARUS. 291 



PSAMMOPHIS CONDANARUS. 



Condanarouse, Russell, Ind. Serp. i. p. 32. tab. 27 (not good). 



Coluber condanarus, Merr. Tentam. p. 108. 



Psammophis condanarius, Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. 1855, xxiii. p. 293. 



Psammophis taeniata, Gibith. Ann. ^ Mag. Nat. Hist. 1862, ix. p. 126. 



Leptophis? bellii?, Jerdon, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. xxiii. p. 529. 



Psammophis indicus, Beddome, Madr. Quart. Journ. Med. Sci. vol. v. 



Body and tail slender, rather compressed ; head elongate-triangular, rather pointed in front, 

 distinct from neck. Eye of moderate size, with round pupil. Rostral shield as high as broad ; 

 anterior frontals small, subtriangular, with the front obliquely truncated, as long as broad ; 

 posterior frontals rather large, longer than broad, rounded behind, scarcely extending down- 

 wards on the side of the head. Vertical narrow, elongate, as long as the occipitals, which 

 are rounded behind. Nostril in the middle between two shields ; loreal quadrangular, twice 

 as long as high ; one prseocular, extending on to the upper surface of the head, but not 

 reaching to the vertical ; two postoculars. Eight upper labials, the fourth and fifth entering 

 the orbit. Temporals l-f-3-|-3. Scales lanceolate, smooth, with a minute apical groove, in 

 seventeen rows. Ventrals 176-182, without keel, bent upwards on the sides; anal bifid; 

 subcaudals 80-90. The fifth or fourth maxillary tooth is long and strong ; a series of from 

 five to six small teeth between this tooth and the last grooved tooth ; lower jaw with two 

 pairs of strong teeth in front. Back brown, with a black edge along each side ; a brown, 

 black-edged band along the second outer series of scales, separated from the back by a 

 brownish-grey band, and from the belly by a yellow one. Belly yellow, with a black line 

 along each side. Head uniform light brown above ; a yellow, black-edged streak runs from 

 the rostral shield along the canthus rostralis, above the orbit to the neck ; a second along 

 the upper half of the labial shields. After the loss of the epidermis in preserved specimens, 

 the dark-brown bands appear of a bluish-olive colour. 



Russell's specimen was from Ganjam : we have lately received one from Chillianwallah : 

 Beddome found it on the Nullay Mullay Hills (Kurnool District). It attains to a length of 

 40 inches, the tail measuring 8^ inches. 



A drawing in the possession of Walter Elliott, Esq., representing our snake, and named 

 Leptophis bellii, has helped me to identify Mr. Jerdon's " Leptophis 1 belliil" — a circumstance 

 which must be mentioned in order to explain how it was possible to recognize it. Mr. Jerdon 

 observes that he procured one specimen in a grassy plain at Falna. " It had killed and was 

 swallowing a small Vipera echis." This is, perhaps, the only instance ever heard of, in which 

 a non-venomous snake overpowered a venomous species. 



2 p2 



