106 ('dialogue of Reptiles inhabiting the 



VENOMOUS SERPENTS. 



FAM. VIPERIM, Bonaparte. 



Sub-Fam. Bungarinye, Bonaparte. 



TERRESTRIAL. 



Gen. Elaps, Schneider. 



Head more or less indistinct, neck not dilatable ; month and eyes 



small, trunk elongated, throughout of nearly equal circumference, very 



smooth ; tail short, tapering, beneath with scntella. 



Elaps melantjrus, (Shaw.) (See Plate XL, Fig. G.) 



Syn— Russell I. PI. 8. (young). 



Coluber melanurus, Shaw, (young.) 

 Vipera trimaculata, Daudin, (young.) 



Elaps trimaculatus, Merrem, apud < s "hi 'l f(^ oun S-) 

 Strongly iridescent light bay above ; from the muzzle a longitudinal 

 black band, joining on the neck a broader transversal black band with 

 whitish edges ; a short oblicpie black line behind the eye, and a similar 

 from the nostril to the middle of the upper lip ; on each side of the 

 anterior part of the back a series of distant black dots ; a broad black 

 transversal band with whitish edges, at the root of the tail ; a second 

 similar, at a short distance from the apex ; lips, throat and the anterior 

 part of the abdomen iridescent yellowish white, changing to yellow or 

 orange on the posterior part ; the tail beneath bluish white, with large 

 irregular black spots. Iris black ; pupil circular ; tongue black. 

 Scuta 205 to 247 ; Scntella 24 to 32. 



Habit. — Malayan Peninsula. 



Tenasserim, Nerva, (Coromandel.) 



In general appearance this species nearest approaches Elaps in- 

 testinal is, (Laurenti), but the eye is comparatively larger, while the 

 nearly ecptilateral, hexagonal, vertical shield is smaller in the present. 

 The eye is surrounded by two post-orbitals, one prse-orbital, and beneath 

 by the third and fourth upper labials. Of the latter seven pairs cover 

 the jaws. The trunk is throughout covered by 13 series of smooth, 

 sub-imbricate, rhombic scales. The one described by Russell, hitherto 

 the only describer from nature, was a young animal. A similar, up- 

 wards of a foot in length, was killed in Province Wellesley. But the 

 late Mr. Griffith in one of his botanical excursions, captured an indivi- 

 dual of the following dimensions : 



