102 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XIX. 



Shaw's Wolf-Snake {LYCODGN striatdS\ 



Nomeiiclalnre — ia) Scientific. — The specific x\fx,vc\Q atriatus (Latin = 

 striped) originated with Shaw in 1802. Uussell had figured the 

 snake [irior to this in his work puhlished in 1896 * 



{b) Knglislu — The English rendering of the specific title is not dis- 

 tinctive enough as it applies eqmiUy we'd to many others of the genus, 

 so that 1 think '' Shaw's Wolf-Snake " the most appropriate name for it. 



(f ) Verminilar — The only uiimes 1 know of are those given hy 

 Russell, ?v;r.,Gai(>o Tutta and Karetta the latte*' inHyderahad. Deccan. 



Dimensions — The longest of 14 specimens measured of my own 

 collection was 1 foot 3? inches, and I know of no o-reater lengrth. 



Bodilq coiifignra 2ow, etc — Very similar to aulicvs the main differ- 

 ence heing that the helly is not angulated on either side hut evenly 

 rounded fn m flank to fltmk. Boulenger calls the heud of aulicvs 

 spatulate but not that of driuhis, 1 caimot see much difference bet- 

 ween the two, that of aulicus is perhaps rather flatter, and the snout 

 more rounded. The eye is jet- hiaok as in aulicus, the scales as glossy 

 and the tips of the tongue white. 



Colour. — Varying shades of dark-brown or black above with from 

 11 to 18 white cross bars on the body (not includmg tail) usually 

 very distinct in the whole body length, the anterior ones specially so. 

 The anterior ones again are more widely separated than the [)0.sterior. 

 These bars are divided more or less distinctly at the sides to include a 

 somewhat deltoid patch of the ground colour, very nicely shown in 

 our plate. The belly is pearly-white, and unspotted. The head is 

 brown or black above except the upper lip which with the lower 

 lip, and chin is pearly- white. Most of the specimens I have seen have 

 been a deep chocolate or pure b'ack, and the cross 1 ar. pure white. 

 iMany writers, however, say that the bars or bands are yellow at any 

 rate sometimes. Colonel Light in a letter mentions one caught nt Bhuj 

 with bright yellow cross bands, and says several in that locality have 

 yellow bands. He mentions another from the same locality with the 

 bands white. Stoliczka speaks of one from the Lower Hills of Simla 

 with 58 broadish- yellowish cross bands. I have never seen a specimen 

 with anything ap[)roachmg 56 bands which in itself suggests aulicus 

 rather than striatus. The ventrals 182 and subcaudals 57 would equally 



* Ind. tcrp. I., Vol. I, Plates XVi c.nd XXVI. 



