"0 JOURNAL, NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY OF SIAM. Vol. I. 
at the base of the tail and another at the end, has been figured by 
Giinther (Rept. Brit. Ind., pl. XX. fig. A). The other, with 19 
rows of scales and without the spots on the tail has been described and 
figured by Jan as S. quadrilineatus. Unfortunately, the latter name 
is a strict synonym of S. taeniatus, Giinther’s original description 
(P. Z. S. 1861, p. 189) having been drawn up from a single specimen 
of the same furm; so that I am compelled to propose a new name, 
var. Mouhoti, for the snake figured in the Reptiles of British India, 
I should have regarded these two forms as species, as Dr. Malcolm 
Smith, who has examined many specimens, finds them always quite 
distinct from each other, but for the fact that a specimen from Laos in 
the British Museum combines the number of scales of S. taeniatus 
with the coloration of S. Mouhoti. Dr. Malcolm Smith further points 
out a difference in the colour of the tongue, which is entirely reddish 
in the former, and black at the base and at the tips in the latter. 
[I have now examined altogether some 40 specimens of these 
two forms from various parts of the country, and the fact that I had 
so tar always found them distinct from each other, led me to think 
that they should be ranked as species. Both are equally common in 
Bangkok, but the form with 19 rows of scales is rare outside. The 
following are the various points of difference, drawn up from notes of 
my own specimens. 
S taeniatus. S. Mouhoti. 
(Drawn up from 15 specimens.) 
19 rows of scales. 
Tongue red. 
Posterior head-mark 
shaped. 
No tail-bars or collar. 
arrow 
Subocular rarely present. 
Ventrals 155—167. 
Temporals 242, rarely 1+ 2. 
(Drawn up from 25 specimens.) 
17 rows of scales. 
Tongue black at the base and 
tips. 
Posterior 
shaped. 
1 or 2 tail-bars and a more or 
less complete collar. (Any or 
all occasionally absent). 
Subocular generally present. 
Ventrals 144 —163. 
Temporals 1+2, rarely 242. 
head-mark heart 
I should be grateful to any member of the Society who will 
forward me further specimens jor examination. A description of the 
two forms will be found in the article on the Snakes of Bangkok, in 
this number.— M. 8.] 
