MISCELLA NEOUS NOTES. 



1001 



My specimen ai,'rcos well with 

 the type which I have examin- 

 ed. The following features 

 deaerve special mention. The 

 costals are 17 in the anterior 

 and middle parta of the body, 

 and decrease to 13 posteriorly. 

 The absorption is effected 

 thus— from 17 to 15 the 3rd 

 and 4th rows above the vent- 

 rals on the right side, and the 

 4th and 5th on the left blend, 

 and from 15 to 1'^ the 4th and 

 5th coalesce. (In this respect 

 this specimen diffeis from the 

 type, in which the rows reduce 

 to 15.) The ventrals are 165, 

 anal divided, and subcaudals in 

 57 pairs. There are 7 supra- 

 labials on both sides,and I think 

 Mr. Boulenger would have been 

 OUgodim ertjthrogastcr ( X 2 ). more correct if ho had counted 



those shields as 7 in the type (not 6), for he records the temporals in the type as 

 two, evidently taking tht 6th supralabial for an infeiior temporal. In my 

 specimen the 6th supralabial fails to bolder the lip on the right side (as one 

 sees sometimes in other species of Oliyodon and Simotes) and has a small portion 

 detached on the right side. The temporal, too, I consider single as 1 do in the 

 type specimen. 



The dentition is peculiar. The maxilla supports 7 teeth on the left side, 

 and 8 on the right of the usual syncianterian type seen in Siniotes and 

 Oligodon. There is a thort edentulous space anteriorly. The palatine has 3 

 teeth on the left side and 2 on the right situated in the middle. The pterygoid 

 has a single very small tooth near the middle. The mandible has a short 

 edentulous space anteiiorly, then 6 subequal teeth on (he right bide (5 on the 

 left), then an edentulous interval followed by a single looth. 



F. Wall, c.m.z.s., Major, i.m.s. 

 Chitual, 19th November 1909. 



No. XXVIII.— A VARIETY OF THE COMMON COBRA 



(NAJA TRIPUDIANH) IROM CHITRAL. 



On the 13th October a young cobra was brought in to me presenting 



characters of so distinctive a nature that I at fii-st thought it claimed 



recognition as a variety distinct from any previously recorded. The first thing 



to attract attention is its colouration. Thus it is olive-brown completely 



