A POPULAR TREATISE ON THE COMMON INDIAN SNAKES. Til 



which suggested the term painted, this adjective is equally appli- 

 cable to all. 



(c) Vernacular. — In Ceylon Ferguson* says it is called " hal- 

 danda." Mr. E. E. Green interrogated two intelligent Singhalese 

 with respect to this terra, and they said they knew a snake of this 

 name which they described as " a very swiftly moving snake of a 

 dark-brown colour," and said it had a yellow belly. The word is 

 from "hal" rice and " danda " a stick or whip. The connection 

 is not very obvious but an observation of Annandale and Robinson's 

 with regard to the snake B. pictus suggests itself. They remark 

 that it is often found among bushes at the edge of rice fields. One 

 of the two men above referred to told Mr. Green it is also called 

 " katta-kaluwa," meaning black mouthed, but whether this name 

 is rightly applied to this species seems dubious, as it does not 

 appear appropriate. Ferguson f mentions this term in his list of 

 Singhalese names for snakes, but without specifying the species. 



Confusion in vernacular nomenclature with regard to snakes is 

 great, thus we find another Singhalese name, viz., " ahaetulla " 

 wrongly applied to this species. Linne \ in 1754, Laurenti § in 

 1768 and others since have made use of the term in reference to 

 the snake now identified by Boulenger as D. pictus, but it is clear 

 that the word emanating from Ceylon refers rather to the Ceylon 

 snake tristis. There is, however, now, I think no doubt that 

 "ahaetulla" is the correct Singhalese name for the green whip- 

 snake (Dryophis mycterizans), the word implying eyeplucker being 

 synonymous with the " kankotti-pambu " of the Tamils in South- 

 ern India. Further confusion has arisen with regard to the name 

 " kumberi-muken." Russell IF connects this name with the snake 

 D. tristis, and many others subsequently have followed him, but I 

 think there can be no doubt that it is correctly applied to the 

 green whip-snake (D. mycterizans). The name meaning "snouted 

 tree snake " obviously suggests the green whip-snake, and is quite 

 inappropriate to the common bronze-back. Moreover, in a printed 

 copy of a lecture on snakes delivered some years ago by the Rev. 

 Fr. Bertram, S.J., of which I have a copy, this authority sa}^ " I 

 believe these two different names (kan-kotti-pambu and kamberi- 



* Rept. Fauna of Ceylon, 1877, p. 20. f loc cit- p. 40. J Mus. Ad. Frid. p. 35, 

 Plate XXII. fig-. 3. § Sjn. Rept. p. 79. *i End. Serp., Vol. I. p. 3G and Plate XXXI 



