COLUBER. 237 



A single specimen was transferred from the collection of the East India Company to that 

 of the British Museum, and is stated to belong to the collection made by Colonel Sykes in 

 the Dekkan. 



COLUBER. 



Coluber, sp., Linn. 



Body rounded above, generally of moderate length ; tail one-fifth or less 

 than one-fifth of the total length ; eye of moderate size, with round pupil ; 

 nostril lateral, between two plates. Shields of the head regular ; one prae- 

 ocular. Scales smooth or with feeble keels, in nineteen to twenty-seven 

 rows ; ventrals not keeled ; anal bifid. Teeth in the jaws of equal size. 



Numerous species of this genus are found in North America, Europe, and Asia ; those in 

 British India belong to the northern parts of this region, scarcely extending southwards into 

 the tropical region. 



* Anterior frontals pointed in front ; less than 200 ventrals. 



Scales in twenty-one rows C. rufodorsatus, p. 238. 



** Anterior frontals obtuse in front ; more than 200 ventrals. 



Scales in twenty-three rows C. mandarinus, p. 238. 



Scales in nineteen rows C. porphyraceus, p. 239. 



I am quite at a loss as to where the Platyceps semifasciafus, Blyth, Joum. As. Soc. Beng. 

 xxix. 1861, p. 114, should be placed; no mention is made either of the shields of the head 

 or of the scales. The genus is characterized as follows : — 



Platyceps, n. g. — Like Coluber (Coryphodon, D. ^ B.), but with exceedingly flat head, and tail only 

 about a sixth of the total length. 



Pl. semifasciatus. — Colour olive-grey above, white below ; the posterior two-fifths without markings, 

 and the nuchal region marked with broad transverse black bands, having lateral black spots alternating 

 on either side. These gradually become narrower and are broken into alternate bands on the second fifth 

 of the body, being still more broken into smaU spots on the third fifth, beyond which they gradually 

 disappear anterior to the vent. Eyes of moderate size. Specimen evidently young. Length about 

 \0\ inches, of which taU about 2 inches, its extreme tip being lost in the specimen. Ventral shields 187. — 

 Subathoo. 



