ON COMMON INDIA N SNA KES. 103 



we 1 ] agree with aulicus. A'inan lale* says that those from the Mala- 

 kand are reported to have }*ellow marks. Greenf mentions one from 

 Peradeniya. Ceylon, with some of the median scales in the anterior 

 white hands yellow, and Annandale* speaks of a similar specimen 

 from Pamban in S. India t 



In 5 Ceylon specimens collected in Peradeniya, I found the hands 

 far less distinct than in Indian forms, the colour being dirty white, and 

 the ground colour brown rather than black. 



Identification — The remarks on aulicus under this heading apply 

 also here. Attention must be given to the following : (1) a single 

 loreal touching the internasal, (2) scale rows 17 in mid body. (3) nasals 

 touching the 1st and 2nd supralabials and (4) supra'ab'als 7 or 8. 



flaunts. — I have known this snake in the house, like its commoner 

 ally aulicus, one in Fyzabad came into the Cantonment Hospital, and 

 another was encountered in the Officers' Mess of the 85th K. S. L, I. 

 Three or four were unearthed at different times during dioo' n o- 

 operations. It hides away during the day time in holes in the ground, 

 heaps of debris, crevices of brickwork, stacks of wood, etc. 



Disposition — All the specimens 1 have seen alive exhibited a very 

 timid disposition. I never knew one strike no matter what the 

 provocation. Usually it made no endeavour to escape but coiled 

 itself, and if touched or teased, hid its head beneath its coils, looking 

 out cautiously from time to time to see if the danger apprehended had 

 disappeared. It sometimes flattens itself to the ground in a remark- 

 able way. 



JIaJiits. — Like the common wolf-snake it is decide lly nocturnal. 

 I met with two at different times at night on the road between the 

 Mess and my house at Berhampore lOrissa), and on both occasions 

 there was no endeavour to retire from the situation, no attempt at 



* .Mem Asm Soc , Bengal, I. 10, p 194. 



'< Spol. Zeylan., I\ arch K'05, p. 2 5. 



J I know that aulicus and strmtm are frequently confused one uith the other, and I have 

 found several specim -ns in various museums inc rrectly identified. If one refers to ihe 

 abnormalities n scaling ihat I have remarked upon in tbe wo i-pecies in this pa, er, it will 

 be apparent how easily a tnista-e 'nay ari e, since tbe points made use of in ibe t-ep rati' n 

 of he two species are subject to some variation. Moreover, a mistake, 1 not infrequently 

 committed in days gone by, may occur with others. It is very easy to miscount the upper 

 lab als in the Lycoioiu, and to omit to count the last which is often not so evidently one of 

 the series as one sees n other snakes. In all cases the mouth should be opened, and these 

 shields then counted t j the gape. 



