IIEIU'ETOLOGY. 313 



r_v(lii)n, the niiii-kinjjs beinu; not much dissimilar; it made no attcmjjt to injnre liini, 

 and lie was only umlcceivud by one of las dogs being bittea and quickly killed by 

 the snake." 



Famihj Crotalidse (Pit-vipers). 



A deep pit in the loreul reyio?/. 

 a. The second upper laJjiiil funns the jront of the Ureal ^ pit.'' 



Trimekesuhus, Gilnther. 



T. GiuMiNEUs, Shaw. 



Scales keeled, in 19 to 21 rows. Scales of the head smooth or faintly keeled. 

 The supranasals are separated by a small shield or a pair of small .shields. Colour 

 j^rass green, paler on the sides. Belly greenish. A yellow or brick-red line runs 

 from behind the eye along the outer series of scales. Tail sometimes redtlish. Grows 

 to 32 inches. 



Inhabits Pegu, the Andamans. 



T. EEYTHEDRUs, Cantor. 



Scales keeled, in 21 to 23 rows. Supranasals in contact behind the rostrals, or 

 rarely separated by a small shield. Colour like the last, only lips and chin whitish, 

 and a white lateral line bordered below with greenish or purple. The head is more 

 elongate, oval and depressed than in either the last or the next species. Grows to 

 33 inches. 



Inhabits Pegu, Tenasseriin, and Upper Burma. 



T. CAKiNATDs, Gray. 



Scales strongly keeled, in 23 to 25 rows (rarely in 21). The supranasals usually 

 separated by one or two shields, or if not, only just touch, without forming a broad 

 suture. Colour grass gi'een, paler below. Tail rusty. Grows to 37 inches. 



Inhabits Pegu and Tenasserim. 



These three species are closely allied, and iudi\iduals are often not easy to assign 

 without a good series. 



T. rOKPHYKACEUS, Blyth. 



Scales keeled, in 2.5 rows. Supranasals small, separated by a large shield. 

 Colour grass green, brown or blackish, either uniform or variously mottled with a fine 

 poi-phyraceous lustre. U]}i)er lip and below whitish, or occasionally a side streak. 

 Grows to 48 inches. 



Inhabits the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. 



T. Cantori, Blyth. 



Scales keeled, in 27 to 29 rows. Colour dull green, with several rows of dark 

 alternating spots. A white lateral line, and another margined with dark green, fi'om 

 the rostral to the gape. Grows to 48 inches. 



Inhabits the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. 



b. Shield in front of the loreul pit divided from the seeond upper lubiiil. 



T. MUTAiiiLis, Stoliczka. 



Scales keeled, in 21 rows. The second upper labial is sometimes undivided. 

 Colour variable. Olive brown, darker on the head, with numerous greenish dark-edged 

 cross-bands. A white streak li'om the rostral to gape, meeting a temporal stri^ak, and 

 thence continued along the ventrals. Two other bauds down the side, with a dark 

 interspace. Grows to 20 inches. 



Inhabits the Andamans and Xicobar Islands. 



