792 JOl RNAL, B0MBA1 NATl UAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol XIX. 



I think I am justified in doubting the habitat of Colonel 

 Beddome's specimen in the "British Museum said to be from the 

 Anamallays. This is the only record of this snake from Penin- 

 sular India excluding Bengal, and until another specimen is 

 forthcoming the record is best ignored.* 



Variety. — Andamanensis appears to be peculiar to the Andaman 

 Islands. 



(b) Local. — Variety iijpica inhabits the plains and low hills 

 ascending to a level of about 4,000 feet (Stoliczka says 6,000 feet). 

 It is fairly abundant in the Sikkim Himalayas. In Upper Burma 

 (Bhamo) Anderson reported it common, but two of the three 

 specimens collected by him are obviously the species, subsequently 

 described by Boulenger as distinct, viz., subocularis. Evans and I 

 found it by no means common in Lower Burma, acquiring but 6 

 specimens out of a total of about 750 snakes. In the Malay 

 Peninsula Flower says it is by no means rare, and Annandale and 

 Robinson refer to it as probably the most abundant snake in the 

 cultivated parts of the Malay States. Variety Andamanensis is 

 said to be common in the Andamans. 



Lepidosis. — The scale characters are so extremely similar to 

 those of tristis that I need not repeat what I have said under that 

 species. The two differences that I have been able to discover are 

 (1) that three supralatials, the 4th, 5th and 6th usually, but by no- 

 means always, touch the eye and (2) that the vertebrals are as 

 broad, or nearly as broad as long in the middle of the body. 



Dentition, (a) Maxillary. — 20 or 21 ; the first 3 or 4 pro- 

 gressively increasing in length, the posterior 3 or 4 decidedly 

 more compressed, but not longer than the preceding, (b) Palatine. 

 — 13 or 14, subequal and as long as the maxillary, (c) Pterygoid. — 

 20 to 26, subequal, smaller than the palatine, (d) Mandibular. — 

 20 to 22 ; the first 3 or 4 progressively increasing in length, the 

 series then very gradually decreasing posteriorly. 



Osteology. — The shape of the nasal bones (fig. B c) is strikingly 

 different from that of tristis, so are also the ridges on the parietal 

 bone (fig. B d). The length of the articular process of the dentary 

 (l> f) equals the distance from the articular notch to about the 8th 



tooth. 



(To be continued). 



.1 I s! Bengal, XL! i> 131 



