290 JO URh A L, BOMB A Y NA TUBAL H1STOR Y SOCIETY, Vol XIX. 



oculars. — Length subequal to, breadth about half that of the frontal. 

 Nasals. — More or less divided, or entire and simply perforated by 

 the nostril : in contact with 1st and 2nd labials. Loreal. — Single, 

 longer than the nasals, about twice as long as high, touching the eve. 

 / '/'(/jocular. — One, intervening between the loreal and the supraocular. 

 Postocuiars. — Two. Temporals. — Two. Supralabials. — 7, the 3rd and 

 4th touching the eye. J n/ralabials. — 5, the 5th largest, nearly twice 

 as broad as the posterior sublinguals ; in contact with 3 scales behind ; 

 the first meet to form a suture half or less than half that between the 

 anterior sublinguals. Sublinguals. — Two pairs ; the posterior two-thirds 

 to three-fourths the length of the anterior ; in contact with the 4th and 

 5th infralabials. Costals. — Two heads-lengths after head 13, midbody 

 13, two heads-lengths before the anus 13 ; vertebrals not enlarged, 

 last row not or barely enlarged: not keeled; apical pits present, 

 .-ingle. I '/ ntrals, — 200 to 243* (Boulenger) ; markedly angulate on 

 each side. Anal. — Divided. Subcaudals. — 65 to 88 (Boulenger), 

 divided. Anomalies. — Rarely there are two prseoculars. The supra- 

 labials me sometimes (i or 8. In one of my specimens the 10th to the 

 14th subcaudals were entire. 



Two other species of Dryocalamus, viz., gracilis and davisoni, occur 

 within Indian limits. The former should, I think, be noticed here being 

 "\ cry like nympha in colouration and therefore likely to be confused 

 with the krait. The latter is not like the krait, being striped in a 

 longitudinal direction, and is a Malayan snake which just enters our 

 limits in Tenasserim. 1 shall therefore make no remarks upon it. 



Tin: Scarce Bridal Snake (dryocalamus gracilis). 



Nomenclature, (a) Scientific, — The specific title (Latin = graceful) 

 was given by Giinther in 1864, in allusion to its graceful form. Like 

 its ally nympha it is a very attractive little snake, striking in its dainty 

 colouration and slender outline. 



(b) English. — The Scarce Bridal Snake, would, 1 think, be a 

 fitting designation. 



(c) Vernacular. — It is too uncommon to have been christened in- 

 any native dialect. 



• There is a decided tendency for those shields to be more numerous in Indian than in 

 Ceylon specimens. Thus in C Ceylon examples they range between 200 and 219, and in li> 

 ludum examples between '-'16 and 213. 



