POPULAR TREATISE ON COMMON INDIAN SNAKES. 297 



The snake which bears the most marked superficial resemblance to 

 the krait is Lycodon striatus. Nearly all the specimens I have seen 

 have been black or blackish, not brown as shown in our plate (IX, fig. 

 4). Its resemblance to a young krait (B. cceruleus) is very remarkable. 

 The dimensions of an adult are about the same as a krait in its first 

 year, both are black, and both have very conspicuous white cross bars. 

 It will be remembered that I remarked upon the conspicnousness of 

 the white bars in the young krait anteriorly, although in the adult 

 they are usually obscure or completely absent in front. Both have 

 the lips, and underparts completely white. In both the eye is a black 

 jet-like bead in which the pupil cannot be discerned. In both the 

 beautiful gloss on the scales claims special attention. Both are ex- 

 tremely likely to be met with inside habitations, and especially at 

 niodit. On the other hand if one comes to notice scale characters it 

 will be seen how very different the two snakes are, so different indeed 

 that attention to one or two of the many differences can admit of no 

 confusion between them. Thus the enlarged vertebrals of the krait 

 are absent in the Lycodon and the subcaudals which are entire in the 

 krait are divided in the Lycodon. Besides this the scale rows are 

 15 in the whole body length of the krait and have no apical pits, 

 the anal shield is always entire, there is no loreal, there is only one 

 temporal, there are but 4 infralabials, added to which the pupil is 

 round. In L. striatus on the other hand the scales are 17 in the 

 anterior and mid parts of the body, 15 behind, have single apical 

 pits, the anal is usually divided, a loreal is always present, there are 

 two temporals, G infralabials, and the pupil is vertical. 



In the two Dryocalami dealt with the resemblances to the krait 

 affect the same features detailed under Lycodon striatus which are 

 those which most readily catch the eye. 



"By lamp light I have been deceived as to their identity taking 

 both species at first sight for the krait. The differences in lepidosis 

 between them and the krait are the same as those detailed under 

 Lycodon striatus. 



It is always a matter of surprise to me that the common variety of 

 the Common Wolf-Snake can be mistaken for the krait. I see very 

 little if any resemblance between the two, still nearly every specimen 

 sent in to me is sent in as a krait. On two or three occasions, 

 however, I have seen a resemblance between the dark variety 



