SNAKES. 267 
also known as the Pine Snake, the Pilot Snake, and the Black 
and White Snake. 
The Painted Tree-Snake (Dendrophis pictus). The members of 
this genus and of some other genera have received the common 
title of Tree-Snakes. These are chiefly remarkable for their 
slender and elongated bodies, and generally for the great beauty 
of their colours. Their movements are exceedingly graceful and 
wonderfully rapid. Dr. Wurcherer, on writing of these very 
interesting ophidians, says: ‘‘ I am always delighted when I find 
that another Tree-Snake has settled in my garden. You look for 
a birds’ nest; the young ones have gone, but you find their bed 
occupied by one of these beautiful creatures, which will coil up 
its body, of 2ft. in length, within a space not larger than the 
hollow of your hand. They appear to be always watchful ; 
for at the instant you discover one, the quick playing of 
the long, black, forked tongue will show you that you 
too are observed. On perceiving the slightest sign of your 
intention to disturb it, the snake will dart upwards through 
the branches and over the leaves, which scarcely seem to bend 
beneath the weight. A moment more, and you have lost 
sight of it.” 
The Painted Tree-Snake is one of the commonest Snakes in 
South-eastern Asia. It is subject to considerable variation in 
not only its colouring, but also in the arrangement of the shields 
of its head. It sometimes grows to a length of nearly 4ft., of 
which the tail measures more than one-third. 
This Snake has a large and beautiful eye, with round pupil, 
an elongated loreal, one pree-ocular and two post-oculars, nine 
upper labials, and five, generally, lower ones. Its pitted scales 
are placed in fifteen rows, its ventrals—which are keeled and 
notched—number from 165 to 190, and its sub-caudals are 
arranged in from 122 to 164 pairs, and the anal scute is divided. 
D. pictus is olive or bronze-brown above; there is a black stripe 
on either side of the head, which appears to pass through the 
eye; there is also a yellow stripe, edged below with black, which 
runs along each side of the body, and sometimes there is another, 
which runs along the front part of the back. The under-parts 
are white or yellowish-white. 
