A POPULAR TREATISE ON INDIAN SNAKES. 861 



I would place Boie's Melanozostus * here which he describes as 

 " olivaceo pallide fuscus," making no allusion to dorsal marks or spots. 

 This cognomen has reference to the black ventral bands, which may 

 or may not be present in this type. I have seen many uniformly 

 coloured, and think such specimens are to be found everywhere. 



(b) Lateralis. — Without marks in mid-dorsum, but variously mottled, 

 marbled, or spotted in the flanks. Fig. 2 of our plate shows such a 

 specimen. Blanford f alludes to two males he obtained in the Central 

 Provinces, which he describes as "olive without any dark mark, but 

 with a row of well-marked buff spots down the sides." It is in 

 my experience a common variety which, I believe, is to be found 

 everywhere. 



(c) Pumtatus. — With small black or blackish spots. Russell \ 

 figures one such specimen, but I have usually seen them with the spots 

 arranged quincuncially, and not irregularly scattered as in his specimen. 

 Giinther's § variety 5 would, I think, come into this category. It is 

 common everywhere. 



(d) Quincunciatus (Schlegel). — With large black spots, often as 

 large as the interspaces, or even larger, but arranged quincuncially so as 

 to form a regular chess-board pattern. Fig. 1 in our plate shows a 

 good example. Nicholson's 11 variety " <* "and his figure on Plate XIV 

 refer to this type. It is one of the commonest varieties and to be 

 found, I think, everywhere. 



(e) AnastomosaUis (Daudin). — Marked with a network pattern. 

 Daudin || thus describes it : " Supra cinereo flavescens, maculis parvis 

 rotundis ingris lineis obliquis junctis, et reticulatus." With this 

 I would unite the " braminus " of the same author, the only difference 

 being that in the latter the spots are contained within the meshes of the 

 reticulation, whereas in the former the spots are at the junction of the 

 lines, and leave empty spaces. Russell ** shows both these types in his 

 large volume. Gunther ft describes it under his variety # as 



* Ieie, p. 206. 



t Jourl., Asiat. Soc, Bengal, Vol. XXXIX, p. 371. 



J Indinn Serpents, Plate XV«, Vol. II. 



§ Rept. of Brit. Ind., p. 261. 



•|f Indian Snakes, p. 90. 



i| Nat. Hist. Rept., VII., p. 140. 



** Loc. cit., Plates XX and XXXIII, Vol. I. 



tf Loc cit., p. 261. 



