NOTES ON SNAKES FROM DAliJEELJNG. .'".43 



light in life. When looked at closely the scales are seen to be studded with 

 black dots and often these are congregated more heavily at the sides of the 

 scales so as to prodnce an obscurely striated pattern. The belly is glossy 

 uniform black. The young are very obviously streaked with black on a brown- 

 ish or greyish ground, the two lines on the confines of the 1st and 2nd, and 3rd 

 and 4th rows above the veutrals being usually most pronounced. Young spe- 

 cimens too have an opaque yellowish collar which is incomplete vertebraliy. 



Trachischium guentlieri (Boulenger). 



I obtained 37 specimens, 7 of these were from Darjeeling. the rest from 

 Pashok. It is fairly common at altitudes between about 3,000 and 7,0U0 feet, 

 being more abundant than fuscum at the lower limits of this range, far less 

 so iYinn fuscum at the higher elevations. 



Sexes. — Of 18 sexed, 14 were 9 9 :^'if^ ^ $ $• '^''^ largest specimen was a 9 

 1 foot ;i:i inches. 



Breeding. — Only one gravid 9 ^^is included in the above total. This was 

 killed in Darjeeling on the 11th of July and contained 6 eggs measuring about 

 ^ of an inch in length. 



Habits. — Like fuscum, I found it a very gentle snake, and it was nearly 

 always encountered in day-light. I found one crossing a jungle road in 

 Lebong at dusk one evening, and having dismounted secured it with little 

 difficulty. One young one I caught one morning on the floor of the rink. 



Lepidosis. — The ventrals ranged up to 154 in number, and the subcaudals 

 as low as 30. In one specimen the 6th subcaudal was entire, and in another 

 the first 8 were entire. 



Colour. — Adults are streaked brown and black usually. In some there is a 

 coral-reddish tinge in the brown, especially noticeable posteriorly. The scales 

 in life exhibit an iridescence as the light glances upon them. The belly is 

 usually uniform bright coral-red, but in some specimens a variable extent of 

 the anterior length is black ( rarely greyish-black) which becomes mottled with 

 coral-red more and more till this hue becomes uniform. In one or two speci- 

 mens almost the entire length of the belly was black, a very limited extent 

 posteriorly showing any red, and the specimens -were in consequence extremely 

 Vike fuscum. Young examples have a more or less obscure yellowish collar. 



Trachischium temiiceps. ( Blyth ). 



Of the 17 examples collected, 15 were from Pashok, and 2 from Tindharia. 

 It is obviously the least common of the three Himalayan species.-' One speci- 



* I say the " three " Himalayan soecies because I cannot help thinking that monticohi 

 thoagh recoi (led from this Range doo not, leally occur there. The only specimens known 

 are the collected by Jerdon now in the British iluseum, and said to have come from 

 Darjeeling. but I strongly suspect are from the Khasi Hills. It wouM appear from this 

 record tnat the snaUe is, to say the least, not nm ommon about Darjeeling. I venture to 

 think that no part of India has been so well w rked over as the vicinity of Darjeeling and 

 it is significant fat there is no specimen in cither of the two fairly large local collections 

 there, and that 1 failed to obtain a sngle speciuaen among the large number which pasted 

 through my hands. Further Jerdon collected extensively in the Khasi liills, where last 

 year I found mon^ico^a a common snake, and it is surprising that no specimen appear* t.i 

 .S 



