264 OPHIDIA. 



Ventrals 164-166 ; subcaudals 130-146. Prevailing hue of the upper parts a dull vinaceous ; 

 mauy of the scales margined with black, and some with yellow ; a series of yellow spots 

 (about fifty in number) continued along the spine to the extremity of the tail, with a row of 

 black spots on either side. A slight, whitish, V-like mark on the occiput. Lower parts 

 yellowish white, with specks and powdering of dusky, more prevalent towards and on the 

 tail. 



Two specimens closely resemble each other, but a thir-d presents some differences of colour : 

 the row of yellow spots is wanting along the spine, also the dark band on the nape and the 

 pale V-like occipital mark ; the under parts also are more uniformly whitish. Ventrals 168 ; 

 subcaudals 124. 



From the vicinity of Darjiling. Length 31 inches, of which the tail is 6\ inches. 



Tropidonotus plattceps. (Plate XXII. fig. D.) 



Tropidonotus platyceps, Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. 1855, xxiii. p. 297. Gunth. Proc. Zool. Soc. 

 1860, p. 162. 



Head of moderate length, rather depressed, distinct from neck; body and tail slender. 

 Scales in nineteen rows, with very feeble keels. Ventrals 173-186 ; subcaudals 90-96. 

 Anterior frontals rounded in front, half as large as posterior ; occipitals much longer than 

 vertical. Loreal square ; one praeocular (sometimes split into two), just reaching to the 

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

 fifth of which enter the orbit, the sixth and seventh being the largest. Temporals 1 + 1 + 3. 

 Each maxillary is armed with ten teeth, which gradually become longer and are more widely 

 set posteriorly ; there is another tooth, considerably larger than the others, at the end of 

 the bone, placed at some distance from the continuous series. Brown or brownish olive 

 above, uniform or with a pair of pale doi'sal bands ; belly yellow, with a more or less distinct 

 blackish stripe along each side ; chin and throat and the lower parts of the tail sometimes 

 entirely black. Eostral shield with a black vertical streak. A blackish streak from behind 

 the eye to the angle of the mouth ; males with a yellow streak from the nostril through the 

 lower part of the orbit to the angle of the mouth, ascending on the side of the neck. During 

 life a coral-red streak runs along the edges of the ventral shields. 



A variety of this species is very similar in its coloration to the European Coronella IcBvis, 

 having black specks on a light-brown ground-colour ; the keels of the scales can only be seen 

 with some difficulty. 



This species is found in different parts of the Himalayas (in Nepal, Sikkim, Khasya), at an 

 elevation of from 4000 to 9000 feet. I found the eggs of a lizard or of another snake in 

 the stomach of one of the specimens. It attains to a length of 30 inches, the tail measuring 

 85 inches. 



We have given three views of the head, of the natural size. 



