6 JOURNAL, BOMB A Y NA TURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XV HI. 



another positive gentleman of his mistake. The sandsnake Eryx 

 conicus I have several times known taken for this viper, and, incredible 

 as it may seem, the Burmese tree snake Dipsadomorphus midti- 

 maculatus. This latter is a very slender little snake which has two 

 series of ocelli, or ovate spots costally, these latter misleading its 

 captor. Many specimens of Zamenis diadema are marked somewhat like 

 the Dabo'a. 



Habits, haunts. — It may be met with almost anywhere except, 1 

 believe, in dense jungle, but it prefers open country into which the sun 

 can penetrate and shed its agreeable warmth. Here it lies by day 

 amongst the vegetation, in lazy apathy, apparently oblivious to its 

 surroundings, but never, however, relaxing a vigil, which has for its 

 reward the capture of the incautious animal that chances to stray 

 within reach. In the evening it bestirs itself, and roams abroad whilst 

 darkness prevails. 



Its movements are slow, and consistent with its corpulent habit. 

 When disturbed it prefers usually to maintain its ground, and 

 frequently will contest the right of way with heaving sides, and angry 

 hiss. When it does retire, it does so in a leisurely manner befitting 

 its dignity and figure. 



Fayrer* remarks on the authority of his snakeman that it will take 

 to water, and Halyf mentions one swimming in the middle of a back- 

 water. These are exceptional instances. TennentJ says that it will 

 climb trees, and I can confirm this as a rare event, having known one 

 in a low hedge. Its ungainly proportions, however, do not favour 

 scansorial achievements. It is no uncommon event to find it in close 

 proximity to and even in habitations, and its partiality to a murine diet 

 sufficiently explains such intrusions. I remember one captured in 

 Rangoon beneath the steps of the Cantonment Magistrate's Court during 

 the day, with crowds of natives all about. Bassett-Smith § mentions 

 it as frequently coming into the precincts, and into the Naval Hospital 

 at Trincomalee, and Tennent 11 says the Judge's house at this same 

 station became so infested with this species, that the family had to quit. 



Disposition. — No observer can speak with greater authority than 



* Loc. cit., p. 15. » 



t First report on the collection of snakes in the Colombo Museum, 1886, p. 18. 



X Loc. cit., p. 3o5. 



§ Jour., Bom. Nat. Hist. Soc, Vol. XI, p. 546. f Loc. oit., p. 236. 



