NOTES ON SNAKh:S FROM DAItJEELING. 357 



■were 25 anteriorly also. In one of these they fell to 19 behind and in the 

 other only to "21. The ventrals varied from 140 to 151^ the subcaudals 32 to 

 47. In one the last 3 subcaudals were entire, in nnother the 41st, 42nd, 4Cth 

 and 47th : in a third the 2nd to the Gth were entire. 



Food. — It appeai-s to subsist chiefly on mammals. In one a tuft of fur was 

 protruding from the anus, in three others there were large masses of fur in 

 the cloaca, and two had swallowed a mouse. It is a common snake between 

 elevations of about 4,000 to 8,000 feet. 



LacJiesii^ yraviineus (Shaw). 



I acquired 12 specimens. 6 from Pashok, 3 from Tindharia, and 3 were dubi- 

 ously from one or other of these localities. 



Lepidosis. — In all the costals were in 21 rows anteriorly and in midbody, 15 

 behind. In the three steps where the rows reduce, it is the 4th and 5th, or 

 5th and Gth rows above the ventrals that coalesce. The ventrals ranged 

 between 162 and 171, the subcaudals between 57 and 70. The 1st supralabial 

 was divided into an upper and a lower part on one side in one example. 1 

 noted last year in L. monticola that the anal glands secrete a limpid fluid which 

 on pressure at the base of the tail spurts out as a very thin stream such as issues 

 from the needle of a hypodermic syringe. I found an exactly similar secretion 

 in the glands of this species, and it is remarkably abundant, for the stream 

 continues with some force for two or three seconds or more. It has a pecu- 

 liar odour, not exactly disagreeable, which recalled to my recollection the dis- 

 tinctive smell I had noted last year in monticola. 



Colour. — I have never seen such extremely beautiful specimens of this snake 

 as I saw this year. The dorsum is the most brilliant of fohage greens, and 

 where the scales are overlapped the colour is intense sky-blue. In some there 

 is no vestige of a flank line, in others this was obscurely indicated by a whitish 

 streak on the upper edge of each scale in the ultimate row. In others again 

 a very conspicuous enamel white line adorned the last row, but the most 

 beautiful ornamentation consisted of a double line along the last row. white 

 below, and liver colour or crushed strawberry above. In one these colours 

 were pink below, pale-blue above. The belly was usually intense light green 

 but in some specimens hedgo-sparrow-egg-blue. The head was green above, 

 fading to sky-blue or pale greenish or white on the lips and chin. Above the 

 tail tip there was more or less blotching with pinkish-brown or red. The eye 

 in most (perhaps all) specimens was an opaque pink like enamel. This had 

 nothing to do with hremorrhage into the eye from injury. 



Food. — I found a mouse in the stomach of one. 



The hill-men told me it is called by them " Sirisi samp." It is a common 

 snake on the lower slopes below about 5,000 feet. 



