CYNOPHIS HELENA. 247 



Two species are known, which are found in Southern India and in Ceylon : — 



Scales in twenty-seven rows C. helena. 



Scales in twenty-five rows C malabaricus. 



CtNOPHIS HELENA. 



Russell, Ind. Serp. i. tab. 32. 



Coluber helena, Daud. Kept. y\. p. 377. 



Herpetodryas helena, Schleg. Phys. Serp. ii. p. 192. 



Cynophis bistrigatus. Gray, Ann. ^ Mag. Nat. Hist. 1849, iv. p. 246. 



Plagioclon helena, Bum. ^ Bibr. vii. p. 170. 



Cynophis helena, Gilnth. Colubr. Snakes, p. 95. 



Body and tail slender, compressed; head narrow, flat, rather distinct from neck; snout 

 long, obtusely rounded. Rostral rather broader than high ; anterior frontals small, one-third 

 or one-fourth the size of posterior, quadrangular, rather broader than long. Posterior frontals 

 large, rather longer than broad. Vertical nearly twice as long as broad, pointed behind, 

 with the lateral margins convergent. Occipitals elongate, obliquely truncated behind. Loreal 

 somewhat longer than high ; one prseocular, extending to the upper surface of the head, and 

 generally in contact with the vertical. Two postoculars. Nine low upper labials, the fifth 

 and sixth, and sometimes the hinder angle of the fourth, coming into the orbit ; sometimes 

 the fourth is divided into two, the eye then being over the sutui-e between the sixth and 

 seventh. Temporals irregularly arranged, varying in size and number. Anterior chin-shield 

 in contact with five or six lower labials. Scales on the back very slightly keeled, in twenty- 

 seven series. Ventral shields 220-238 ; anal entire ; subcaudals 85-94. Each maxillary is 

 armed with twelve teeth, the middle of which are rather longer than the others. Reddish 

 olive, with numerous more or less distinct, reticulated, black transverse bands across the 

 anterior part of the back, each of which encloses two white ocelli on either side of the body, 

 one above the other. On the posterior part of the body and on the tail the series of ocelli 

 is replaced by a broad lateral brown band running to the tip of the tail. Neck with a pair 

 of parallel longitudinal black bands above, and with an oblique black band on the side. A 

 black line along the occipital suture ; another oblique one from the eye, along the edge of 

 the seventh labial. The ocellated lateral spots and the cross bands on the back are more 

 distinct in the young than in the adult. Lower parts uniform white. 



This species is not uncommon in Ceylon, but rarer in the Madras Presidency. The largest 

 specimen I have observed measures 42 inches, the tail being 8 inches. It feeds on field mice 

 and rats : a specimen figured in Mr. Elliott's collection of drawings was found in a rat-hole 

 in a field at Martoor. 



