Malayan Peninsula and Islam/-;. 



i i 



Habit. — Pinany. 



The head is elongated, ovate depressed, broader than the neck, the 

 muzzle rounded, slightly projecting ; the anterior frontals are orbicular 

 pentagonal, much smaller .than the frontals, which are bent over the 

 sides, substituting the absent frenal, so as to meet the second upper 

 labial ; the nasal is small, rectangular, obliquely wedged in between the 

 rostral, the two pairs of frontals, and the anterior upper labial ; the 

 nostril large, piercing the middle of the shield ; the vertical is elong- 

 ated pentagonal, broader in front, so as to render the posterior 

 part of the moderate suprseorbitals broader than the anterior ; the 

 occipitals are the largest, elongated, on each side surrounded by 3 

 scales, somewhat longer than the rest covering the temples, and behind 

 by two small post-occipitals. The eyes are proportionally large and 

 prominent, surrounded by one prseorbital and two smaller post-orbitals, 

 the lower of which touches the narrow projecting fifth upper labial, 

 which with the fourth, borders the lower prat of the orbit ; the jaws are 

 covered by 8 pairs of upper, 9 of lower labials. The gape is moderate ; 

 the particulars of the dentition noted in L. platurinus, exist in the 

 present species. The two anterior of the three pairs of small elongated 

 mental shields are bordered by the six anterior pairs of labials ; behind 

 by a number of small scales. The trunk is slender, decreasing towards 

 both extremities, with 1/ longitudinal series of smooth, rhomboidal, 

 slightly imbricate scales. The back is depressed, forming an angle with 

 the compressed somewhat bulging sides. The latter are joined to the 

 flat narrow abdomen under a right angle on the sides of the scuta, so 

 that the vertical section of the body is quadangular. A single indivi- 

 dual found by Sir Win. Norris on the Great Hill of Pinang, was of 

 the following dimensions : 



Length of the head, . . Of inch. 



Ditto ditto trunk, 9f 



Ditto ditto tail, 2| 



1 ft. Of inch. 



Circumference of the neck f , of the trunk ■§, of the root of the tail 

 -f inch. 



In fierceness the present species resembles its congeners, but unlike 

 them, it raises vertically the anterior part of the body, and bites after 



