290 JOURT^AL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XIX. 



■oculars.— hQng'dx subequal to, breadth about half that -^f the frontal. 

 ,iV^asa/5.— More or less divided, or entire and 'feimidy perforated by 

 the nostril; in contact with 1st and 2nd labials. ' LoreaZ.—Single, 

 longer than the nasals, about twice as long as high, touching the eye. 

 FrcBOCular.— One, intervening between the loreal and the supraocular. 

 Poslomlan,—1wo. Temporals.— Two. Supralabials.—l , i\\e 3rd and 

 4th touching the eye. Infralahials.— 5, the Sth largest, nearly twice 

 us broad as the posterior sublinguals ; in contact with 3 scales behind ; 

 the first meet to form a suture half or less than half that between the 

 anterior sublinguals. SuUinffuals.—Two pairs; the posterior two-thirds 

 to three-fourths the length of the anterior ; in contact with the 4th and 

 5th infralabials. Costals.—Tv^o heads-lengths after head 13, midbody 

 13, two heads-lengths before the anus 13 ; vertebrals not enlarged, 

 last row not or barely enlarged ; not keeled'; apical pits present, 

 single. VentraU,— 200 to 243^ (Boulenger) ; markedly angulate on 

 each sid^ ^Ina/.-^Divided. Suhcaudals.^65 to 88 (Boulenger), 

 divided. .4wowiaZ/es.— Rarely there are two prajooulars. The supra- 

 labials.are sometimes G or 8. In one of my specimens the 10th to the 

 ,14th subcaudals were entire. • 



Two other species of Dnjocalamus, viz., gracilis and davisoni, occur 

 within Indian limits. The former should, I think, be noticed here being 

 very like nt/mpha in colouration and therefore lilcely to be confused 

 with the krait. The latter is not like the krait, being striped in a 

 longitudinal directionand is a Malayan snake which just enters our 

 limits in Tenasserim. I shall therefore make no remarks upon it. 



TilE feCAKCE BlilDAL SnAKE {DRYOCALAMUS GRACILIS). 



Nomenclatitre. (a) ScientiH-'^^^^ ^P^pific title ,(L^tin = graGelul) 

 was given by Gilnther in 18G4, in allusion to its graceful form. Like 

 its ally ni/mpha it is ti very attractive httle snake, striking in its dainty 

 colouration and slender outline. 



(6) English.— The Scarce -Bridal Snake, would, .1 think, be a 



fitting designation. 



(c) Vernacular.— It i^ too uncommon to have been christened in. 



any native dialect. 



• There is a decided tendency for these shields to be more numerous in Indian than in 

 Ceylon specimens. Thus in G Ceylou examples they range bet;veen 200 and -J 1<J, and in 19 

 Indian examples'hetweeil 216 and 213. 



