Malayan Peninsula and Islands. 89 



Tropidonotus umbratus, (Daudin,) Var. 

 Syn. — Tropidonotus trianguligerus, Schlegel. 



Above shining brownish, or yellowish green olive ; lips gamboge 

 with a black oblique line between the sixth and seventh labials, a se- 

 cond from the orbit to the angle of the mouth ; a third from the under 

 lip to the upper part of the neck ; trunk and tail with numerous 

 black spots, in some very minute, irregular, in others larger, approach- 

 ing to quincunx order ; the sides with numbers of large square or 

 triangular scarlet spots, separated from each other by broader or nar- 

 rower black vertical bands. Scuta and Scutella gamboge with black 

 margins, the latter with a black central line. Iris black with a narrow 

 golden circle ; tongue black. 



Scuta 121 to 130, Scutella 7G to 84. 



Habit. — Malayan Peninsula and Islands. 

 Java, Bengal. 



The vertical and supra-orbital shields'are of an elongated narrow form ; 

 the anterior frontals triangular, longer than broad ; the nostrils small, 

 placed high on the sides, the frenal is elongated pentagonal, with the 

 largest margin touching the prse-orbital. Of the three post-orbitals the 

 lowest is the longest, wedged in between the fifth, sixth, and seventh 

 upper labials, of which the fifth is the only one which reaches the 

 orbit; the eye is moderate, prominent ; the upper labials are 9, the 

 lower 1 1 on each side. The mouth is very large, the teeth small, 

 crowded, except the two last of the upper jaw, which are longer than 

 the rest. The trunk is slightly compressed, covered by 19 longitudinal 

 series of scales, of which the two lowest are broad rhombic, the rest 

 elongated rhomboidal with rounded points, those of the back lineated. 

 The abdomen is broad arched. This Variety differs in nothing but 

 colours from Tropidonotus umbratus,* (Daudin), and to judge by the 

 description of M. Schlegel, it appears to be identical with T. triangu- 

 ligerus. In the Malayan valleys the Variety is very numerous ; in 

 Bengal it is less so, but there the species abounds in and near fresh 

 water, where it preys upon fishes and frogs. The Variety attains to a 



* Syn. Russell, II. PI. 3. Dooblee, young. — PI. 5. Dora, adult. — Col. umbratus, 

 I >Mu»lin. — Col. dora, Dautl. — Col. brunneus, Herman. — Col. atratus, Herrm, — Col. 

 lugubris, Merrem. — Tropidonotus umbratus, Schlegel.— Tropidonotus dora, apud Cantor. 



