93 



and flanks pink; sometimes dark oblique lines on the anterior 

 part of the body from the vertebral stripe running downwards 

 and anteriorly. Lower surface yellow with small black spots 

 along each side. Length of head and body 435 mm.; tail 85 mm. 



Habitat: Sumatra (S. Atjeh, Deli!, Labuan, Langkat, Raja 

 Mts., Indragiri, Kertadjaja, Muara Rupit, Palembang, Gunung 

 Sugei in Lampong district, Gunung Sahilan!, Taluk!, Tand- 

 jong); Banka!; Borneo! (Mt. DuHt, Kuching, Sarawak, Matang, 

 Limbang); Java! (Tjikao). — Singapore; Malay Peninsula; Siam. 



The Raffles Museum, Singapore, possesses a specimen which 

 is said to be from Macassar, Celebes. 



This species sits up like a cobra when angry, flattening 

 its neck. 



Macropistliodon plunibicolor (Cant.) is doubtfully mentioned 

 from Java in Boulenger's Catalogue p. 268. No other indica- 

 tion of its occurrence in the Sunda Islands could be found, 

 the species being an Indian and a Ceylonese form, so that the 

 locality Java most probably is a mistake. 



16. Xenelaphis Giinther. 



(GUNTHER, Rept. Brit. Ind. p. 250, 1864). 



Head distinct from neck; eye rather large; pupil round. 

 Maxillary teeth 25 — 30, gradually increasing in size; anterior 

 mandibular teeth largest. Body long, round, covered with smooth 

 scales with pits, in 17 rows, the vertebral row more or less 

 enlarged and six-sided; ventrals rounded. Tail long; subcaudals 

 in two rows. 



Distribution. S. E. Asia. 



Key to the In do-Australian species. 



A. Subcaudals 140 — 179; brown above, with more or 



less distinct black transverse bands anteriorly . . . i. A', hcxagonotus p. 93. 



B. Subcaudals 134; body with 18 black-edged brown 



streaks, separated by cream-coloured interspaces. . 2. X. ellipsifer p. 95. 



I. Xenelaphis hexagonotus (Cantor). 



Coluber hexagonotus^ Cantor, Cat. Mai. Kept. 1847, p. 74. 

 Xenelaphis hexagonotus Boulenger, Cat. Sn. II 1894, p. 8. 



Rostral more broad than deep, visible from above; inter- 

 nasals as long as or slightly longer than the praefrontals; frontal 



