TEOPIDONOTUS MONTICOLA. 267 



and postoculars white, the former with a black anterior margin ; the suture between the 

 fifth and sixth and between the sixth and seventh upper labials black. 



A male in the breeding-season, from Madras, is figm-ed by Mr. Walter Elliott with the 

 throat yellow, and with the ground-colour of the anterior part of the body red. 



This is perhaps the most common species of snake on the East Indian continent, ranging 

 from Ceylon through the Peninsula along the southern slope of the Himalayas to southern 

 China (Formosa) ; it is scarcer in the Malayan Peninsula and the northern parts of Siam, and 

 appears to be entirely absent in the Archipelago. It is of very gentle habits, feeding on small 

 frogs ; it attains to a length of 2 feet, but generally remains within smaller proportions. 



This species is readily recognized by the peculiar pattern of its coloration, but varies much 

 in the relative length of the body and tail, on which also depends the number of ventral and 

 subcaudal shields and of the black cross bands. The presence of seven upper labials is not 

 uncommon; but the occurrence of four postoculars is more so. Single specimens may be 

 found which deviate so much from the type that they might be taken for another species. 

 Thus, for instance, an old example from Khasya has two postoculars only, seven upper labials. 

 161 ventrals, and a very dark coloration. 



TrOPIDONOTUS MONTICOLA. 



? Tropidonotus monticolus, Jerdon, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. xxii. p. 530. 



Head rather narrow, body and tail slender, eye large. Scales in nineteen rows. Ventrals 

 142 ; subcaudals 82. Anterior frontals trimcated in front, half as large as posterior ; occi- 

 pitals rounded behind, not much longer than vertical. One prteocular, extending on to the 

 upper surface of the head ; three narrow postoculars. Loreal large, quadrangular. Eight 

 low upper labials, the third, fourth, and fifth of which enter the orbit. Temporals small, 

 2+2+3. Each maxillary is armed with eighteen small teeth and with a large posterior 

 tooth separated from the others by an interspace. Green above, with about twenty-eight 

 black bands across the trunk, each cross band being divided into three square spots by a pair 

 of lateral bands not distinct fi-om the ground-colour ; there is a white dot where the longi- 

 tudinal band intersects the cross bars. The first cross band is paler than the others and 

 occupies the occiput ; it has a white anterior edge ; a pair of white dots between the eyes ; 

 a black dot on the suture between the fifth and sixth upper labials. The lower parts are 

 white ; the lateral black spots, however, extend somewhat on the ventral shields. 



The meagre description of T. monticola given by Mr. Jerdon leaves it somewhat uncertain 

 whether we are correct in referring a specimen 14 inches long, and found by Captain 

 Beddome in the Anamallay Mountains, to that species. Mr. Jerdon says that it is common 

 in the Wynaad. 



2 m2 



