ZAMENIS VENTRIMACULATUS. 253 



obliquely truncated behind. Loreals three or four. One pra^ocular, large, extending to, or 

 nearly to, the vertical ; a ring of small shields surrounds the lower and hinder parts of the 

 orbit. Upper labials small, about fourteen ; temporals numerous, scale-like. Scales oblong- 

 ovate, keeled, in twenty-nine series. Ventrals 237; anal entire; subcaudals 110. There 

 is a very distinct ridge along each side of the abdomen. Each maxillary is armed with about 

 twelve teeth subequal in size : the last tooth is in a continuous series with the others, and 

 scarcely larger than the preceding ; in one specimen it is quite equal in size to the others. 

 Ground-colour yellowish olive, with a dorsal series of roimd brown spots ; two series of short 

 brown longitudinal streaks run along each side of the body. Each shield on the snout with 

 a brown spot ; a brown band crosses the interorbital space and is continued to the angle of 

 the mouth ; a similar horseshoe-like band on the occipitals. 



This species is the eastern representative of Z. cliffordii, from which it differs only in the 

 small shields behind the frontals, and in tlie keeled ventral shields. The feeble development 

 of the posterior maxillary tooth is very remarkable — so much so, that its dentition would be 

 pronounced equal by every one who was not aware of its affinity to Z. cliffordii. It is 

 found in Afghanistan and in Sindli (Kurrachee). Russell's specimen was from Bombay. 

 One of the specimens in the British Museum is 36 inches long, the tail measuring 8 inches ; 

 but I have seen an example which must have been at least 5 feet long. 



The upper and lateral views of the head, given on Plate XXI., are of the natural size. 



Zamenis ventrimaculatus. 



Coluber ventrimaculatus, Gray, Ind. Zool. c. fig. 



diadema, Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. xxiii. (1855) p. 291 (not Schleg.). 



Zamenis ventrimaculatus, var. A, Gmith. Colubr. Snakes, p. 106. 



Head of moderate length, distinct from neck ; body and tail slender ; eye of moderate size. 

 Rostral shield as high as broad ; anterior frontals nearly as large as posterior, as long as 

 broad. Vertical five-sided, broad in front, with the lateral margins very concave ; occipitals 

 truncated behind, each with a small semicircular shield behind. Loreal quadrangular, nearly 

 as high as long ; two prjeoculars : the lower is small ; the upper concave, extending on to the 

 vertical shield ; two postoculars. Nine upper labials, the fifth and sixth of which enter the 

 orbit. Temporals rather irregular: two are in contact with the postoculars, the lower of 

 them being larger than the upper. Scales oblong-ovate, smooth, without apical groove, in 

 nineteen rows. Ventrals 205-220 ; anal bifid ; subcaudals 90-102. Abdomen with a slight 

 ridge on each side. Each maxillary is armed with twehe teeth, the last of which is longer 

 than the others, and somewhat remote from the preceding. Yellowish olive, with numerous 

 very distinct narrow black cross bars on the back, each being half as wide as an interspace of 

 the ground-colour ; a series of small black spots along each side ; belly yellowish, witli an 

 irregular series of black dots along each side. A black cross band between the eyes, an 

 oblique black streak below them, another oblique streak on the temple, a blackish spot in 

 the loreal region, and, finally, a black streak along the median line of the neck. 



