SIMOTES BICATENATUS. 217 



SiMOTES PUNCTULATUS. 



? Corouella violacea, Cantor, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1839, p. 50*. 



Coronella puncticulatus, Gray, Ann. ^ Mag. Nat. Hist. 1853, xii. p. 389. 



Simotes purpurascens, var. D & E, Gilnth. Colubr. Snakes, p. 25. 



Scales in nineteen rows. Occipitals obliquely truncated behind ; loreal distinct ; two pnt- 

 orbitals, equal in size, frequently confluent into one ; two postorbitals ; seven upper labials, 

 the third and fourth forming the lower part of the orbit ; the second labial is sometimes 

 split into two; temporals 1+2. Ventral shields 180-202 ; anal entire; subcaudals 52-62. 

 Ventral shields mth an obtuse keel along each side. Belly with more or less confluent 

 square black spots. 



Var. a. Brown : back crossed by about twenty-three straight, light-brown, black-edged 

 bands, each about two scales broad. Khasya. 



Var. /3. Brown : back with about twenty-two pairs of roundish, lighter, black-edged spots ; 

 the spots of each pak are separate in young specimens, but more or less confluent in old ones, 

 forming 8-shaped figures. Khasya, Nepal. 



Var. y. Brown : back with very numerous irregular transverse lines formed by black edges 

 of some of the scales (as in Oligodon subgriseus). Khasya. 



Var. g. Nearly uniform blackish brown. Sikkim. 



This snake is a mountain species, and is found in different parts of the Himalayas, where 

 it ascends into the temperate zone to above 4000 feet above the level of the sea. Although 

 living at a higher altitude than most of its congeners, it attains to the large size of from 

 ^ to 3 feet. 



Note. — A species from Labuan is very similar to S. punctulatus, but is distinguished by a 

 greater number of temporals, viz. 2 + 3. Ventrals 172-187; subcaudals 60. We propose 

 for it the name of Simotes lahuauensis. It is figured in Motley and Dillwyn's ' Contributions 

 to the Natural History of Labuan,' p. 49, under the name of Calamaria brachyorrhos. Our 

 specimen has the lower prseorbital much smaller than the upper, whilst in the figure quoted 

 both are of equal size ; we may also remark that the tail of the specimen figured had evidently 

 been injured. 



Simotes bicatenatus. 



Scales in nineteen rows. Occipitals obliquely truncated behind ; loreal distinct ; two proe- 

 orbitalsj the lower of which is much smaller than the upper ; seven upper labials, the third 

 and fourth of which enter the orbit ; the second labial may be divided into two ; temporals 



* The typical specimen of Coronella violacea appears to be lost ; however, there is a coloured drawing 

 of it, mth a more detailed description written by Cantor himself, in the collection of the Oxford Museum. 

 He had seen only one example, and there cannot be any doubt that it was a Simotes, which probably 

 belonged to our variety S. of S. 'punctulatus. 



2f 



