79a JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XIX. 



This is the on)y record of this snake Irom Peninsular India (exclud- 

 ing Bengal), and until another specimen is fortlicoming the 

 record is best ignored.* 



Variety. — Andamanensis appears to be peculiar to the Andaman 

 Islands. 



(6) Local. — Variety typica inhabits the plains and low hills 

 ascending to a level of about 4,000 feet (Stoliczka says 6,000 feet). It 

 is fairly abundant in the Sikkim Himalayas. In Upper Burma ( Bhamo) 

 i\.nderfon reported it common, but two of the three sj^ecimens 

 collected by him are obviously the species, subsequently described 

 by Boulenger as distinct, viz.^ suhocularis. Evans and I found 

 it by no means common in Lower Burma, acquiring but 6 specimens 

 out of a total of about 753 snakes. In the Malay Peninsula Flower 

 says it is by no means rare, and Annandale and Robinson refer to 

 it a§ probably the most abundant snake in the cultivated parts of the 

 Malay States. Variety Andamanensis is said to be common in the 

 Andamans. 



Lepidosis. — The scale characters are so extremely similar to 

 those of trisiis that I need not repeat what I have said under that 

 species. The two differences that 1 have been able to discover are (1) 

 that three supralabialis, the 4th, 5th and Gth usually, but by no means 

 always, touch the eye and (2) that the vertebrals are as broad, or 

 nearly as broad as long in the middle of the body. 



Dentition, (a) Maxillary. — 20 or 21 ; the first 8 or 4 progressively 

 increasing in length, the posterior o or 4 decidedly more compressed, 

 but not longer than the preceding, {h) Palatine. — 18 or 14, subequal 

 and as long as the maxillary. (c) Pterytjoid 20 to zC), subequal, 

 smaller than the p.alatine. {d) Mandibular. — 20 to 22 ; the first 3 or 

 4 progressively increasing in length, the series then very gradually 

 decreasing posteriorly. 



Osteology. — The shape of the nasal bones (fig. B c) is strikingly dif- 

 ferent from that of tristis, so are also the ridges on the parietal bone 

 (fio- B d). The length of the articular process of the dentary (B f) 

 equals the distance from the articular notch to about the 8th tooth. 



(^To be continued). 



« J. A, S. iifciigal, XL, p. 4ai. 



