778 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XIX. 



mukken) denote the same snake; for. while the kan-kotti-pambu 

 is acknowledged by all to be the green tree-snake, there is no other 

 tree-snake with an elongated snout which would justify the name 

 kamberi-mukken." Further, the Eevd. C. Leigh, S.J., who has 

 13 years' experience of Trichinopoly, recently wrote to me in 

 response to my enquiries that green whip-snakes were frequently 

 kept in captivity at St. Joseph's College, and the students and 

 visitors repeatedly applied the name "kamberi-mukken," " patchai- 

 pambu " and " kan-kotti-pambu " to the species.* 



Jerdonf mentions " chitooriki-pambu " as one of the names in 

 use in Southern India, and Dr. J. R. Henderson tells me he has 

 known it called " panaiyeri-pambu " meaning palmyra snake in 

 the same part of India. According to Russell f it is called " rooka " 

 in Mahratti, " goobra " about Hyderabad (Deccan), " maniar " 

 about Bombay, and "mancas" in Guzerat. Mr. E. Muir tells me 

 that at Kalna, Bengal, it is called " bet anchora " which means 

 "lacerated with a cane." 



In Cannanore I heard it called " villooni " from the Malayalam 

 villoo a bow (see legends hereafter). 



Colour and markings. — Dorsally the body is uniformly purple 

 brown, bronze-brown or rarely ruddy-brown, except for the verte- 

 bral region which is usually more or less distinctly lighter, and the 

 last row and a half of scales in the flanks, which are yellowish. The 

 vertebral stripe involves the vertebral and half the next row. It 

 may be conspicuous in the whole body length, or only anteriorly. 

 In the neck and forebody a series of oblique, black streaks, often 

 paired, and usually more or less broken up are always more or less 

 evident. A yellow flank stripe passes from the neck to the vent. 

 It is bordered above by a blackish, somewhat indistinct line, but 

 unlike pictus is not bordered below by a black line running along 

 the edge of the ventrals. 



When the snake under excitement dilates itself, small oblique 

 patches of light sky blue on each scale on the back are brought into 

 view, especially noticeable and brilliant in the forebody. Each 



* The confusion is on a par with the Singhalese " karawella," wrongly ascribed 

 by Gunther to the Ceylon pit viper ( Ancistrodon hypnale). Subsequent authors 

 repi ated the mistake on his authority, but there is now no doubt, I believe, that it 

 is properly applied to the Ceylon krait (Bwujarus cylonicus). 



1 J. A. S. bengal, XXII. p. 529, Loc. cit. 



