40 PLATUEUS FISCHERI. 



specimens show the same assemblage of characters as laid down in his 

 description, and the occurrence of fifty-six rings in my specimen, 

 suggest that their multiplicity is either due to greater age (it measures 

 forty-nine inches in length) or to variation. The head too is wholly 

 black, with the exception of a yellow band from the posterior margin of 

 one eye to the other. The upper surface is olive green, and the sides 

 and belly rich dark gamboge yellow, and the fifty-six rings are intensely 

 bluish-black, and the scales generally have a very bright shining lustre. 

 It was from Tolly's Nullah, a tidal stream near Calcutta. The largest 

 of Gunther's eight specimens measured thirty inches." 



