244 OPHIDIA. 



lateral keel, and ai'e bent up the sides. Each maxillary is armed with about twelve teeth, 

 the middle of which are rather longer than the others. Light yeUo^^ish-bay above and 

 behind, paler on the sides ; a black streak across the extremity of the occipitals, extending 

 downwards to the throat ; three black lines radiate from the eye : one runs along the occipital 

 margin to the black cross band ; the second is oblique, running along the hinder margin of 

 the seventh labial ; the third is vertical, below the eye. On each side of the back a broad 

 longitudinal black band, accompanied by a narrower one below ; both gradually disappear 

 towards the middle of the trunk. Lower parts uniform yellow ; a series of black longitudinal 

 streaks along the edges of the anterior third of the abdomen. 



This fine species is peculiar to the western parts of India ; it is found in Java and Sumatra, 

 in the Malayan peninsula, on the coast of Tenasserim, in Assam and Cochinchina, and, 

 finally, in the Khasya Mountains and Sikkim. It attains to a length of 6 feet, the tail being 

 rather more than one-sixth ; it not only inhabits bushes, but, at Pinang, it is also numerous 

 in marshes and paddy-fields. It is equally nocturnal and diurnal, preying on rats, birds, 

 lizards, and frogs. Cantor found in a female twenty-three eggs. 



COMPSOSOMA MELANURUM. 



Coluber melanurus, Schleg. Phys. Serp. ii. p. 141. pi. 5. figs. 11,12; and Abbild. taf. 5. 

 Compsosoma melanurum, Duiii. ^ Bibr. vii. p. 299. 

 Spilotes melanurus, Gilnth. Colubr. Snakes, p. 97. 



Body and tail elongate, compressed ; head flat, distinct from neck ; snout rather long, 

 obtusely rounded. Rostral shield broader than high ; anterior frontals of moderate size, not 

 quite half as large as posterior, subquadrangular, broader than long. Vertical five-sided, very 

 broad in front, its anterior margin being rather longer than the lateral ; lateral margins 

 strongly convergent ; hinder margins meeting at a right angle. Occipitals much longer than 

 vertical, obliquely truncated behind; one prseocular, large, and extending to the upper 

 surface of the head, but not reaching the vertical ; two postoculars, sometimes confluent into 

 one. Nine low upper labials, the fourth, fifth, and sixth entering the orbit, the fourth with 

 its hinder angle only ; the sixth forms a part of the hinder margin of the orbit. Temporals 

 2 4- 2 : the two anterior are elongate, and the upper only is in contact with the postoculars ; 

 the hinder temporals vary in size and form. Scales rhombic, not elongate, rather strongly 

 keeled, in nineteen rows. Ventrals 202-234; anal entire; subcaudals 80-107. Theventrals 

 have no trace of a keel, and are bent up the sides. Each maxillary is armed with about 

 twelve teeth, equal in size. Ground-colour of the anterior parts browTiish, gradually passing 

 into black posteriorly. A yellow vertebral band, broadly edged with black on both sides, 

 commences behind the neck and is lost before it arrives in the middle of the trunk ; a short 

 black vertical streak below the eye; another descends from the hinder part of the orbit 

 towards the angle of the mouth ; a third, longer one commences in the temporal region and 

 runs in an oblique direction to the edge of the belly, where it is continued as a series of 

 about five large, distant black blotches. The lower parts uniform yellow, black posteriorly. 



