COLUBER. 



331 



b. Anal usually divided; scales in 23 or 25 

 rows. 

 a'. Rostral as deep as broad ; nonnally 8 

 upper labials, 4th and otli entering eye ; 



subcaudals 79-90 C. Iwdgsonii, p. 332. 



h'. Rostral broader than deep; normally 9 

 upper labials, otli and 6tli entering eye ; 

 subcaudals 90-107 C. tcpniiirus, p. 333. 



B. Scales strongly keeled on hinder part of back, 



in 19 or 21 rows ; A'entrals with an obtuse 



lateral keel. 

 (I. Outer caudal scales without trace of keel. C. radiatns, p. 833. 

 b'. All the caudal scales keeled C melaiwrus, p. 334. 



C. Scales smooth or feebly keeled; ventralswith 

 well-marked lateral keel ; colour uniform 



jrreen 



a'. Scales in 19 rows ; loreal present C. prtmmts, p. 334 



C 



.'. Scales in 19 rows ; no loreal C. fremitus, p. 335, 



■'. Scales in 25 or 27 rows C. o.rycephalus, p. 335, 



406. Coluber helena. 



liussell, Ind. Serp. i, pi. xxxii. _ 



Coluber helena, Dated. Hejif. vi, p. 277, 



Cynophis bistrigatus, Gray, A. M. K. H. (2) iv, 1849, p. 246. 



Piagiodon helena, Bum. | Bibr. Erp. Gen. vii, p. 170 ; Jan, Icon. 



Ophkl. 20, pi. iv, fig. 1, 

 Ilei-petodryas malabaricus, Jerdon, J. A. S. B. xxii, 1854, p. 530. 

 Cynophis helena, Giinth. Rept. B. I. p. 247 ; Theob. Cat. p. 1G7 ; 



Blanf. J. A. S. B. xlviii, 1879, p, 125; Murray, Zool. Siiid, 



p, 37G, 

 C^Tiophis malabaricus, Gi'mtJi. Rept. B, I. p. 248, pi. xxi, fig, A ; 



Thenh, I. c. p. 107. 

 ? Coluber nuthalli, Theob. Cat. Rept. As. Soc. Mus. 1868, p, 51 ; id. 



Cat. p. 164. 

 Cynophis malabarensis, var. carinata, F. Midler, VerJt. nat. Ges. 



Basel, vi. 1878, p. 671. 



Eostral a little broader than deep, visible from abo^e; suture 

 between the internasals much shorter than that between the 

 prgefroutals : frontal as long as its distance from the end of the 

 snout, shorter than the parietals : loreal somewhat longer than 

 deep; one large prseocular ; two postoculars ; temporals 2 + 2 or 

 2 + 3; 9 (exceptionally 10 or 11) upper labials, fifth and sixth, or 

 fourth, fifth, and sixth entering tlie eye : 5 or lower labials in 

 contact \\\i\\ the anterior chin- shields, which are as long as or a 

 little longer than the posterior. Scales in 23 to 27 rows, smooth, 

 or feebly keeled on the posteiTor part of the body and on the tail. 

 Yentrals 220-265 ; anal entire ; subcaudals 75-94. Young pale 

 brown above, with black cross bands, each enclosing four to six 

 white ocelli ; adult darker brown, with transverse series of squarish 

 black spots, or with more or less distinct traces of the livery of the 

 young ; a vertical black streak below the eye, and an oblique one 



