66 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XX. 



altered to its present rendering which was introduced by Baird in 

 1864. 



(b) English. — The brown Himalayan viper is probably the best 

 name for it. The only other brown viper in this mountainous region 

 is Lachesis monticola which occurring only in the Eastern Himalayas, 

 and extending to the Malayan subregion may lie designated the 

 brown, or spotted Himalo-Malayan viper. 



(<■) Vernacular. — The only native name I know tor it is " pohur " 

 which is what the Kashmiris call it. 



General characters. — The body is rather stout, and heavy for the 

 length of the snake, and round in section. Anteriorly it attenuates 

 so as to make the neck very apparent, behind the broadly expanded 

 angles of the jaws. Posteriorly it suddenly reduces in girth at the 

 anus, so that the termination of the body, and commencement of the 

 tail are far more obvious than in colubrine, and other snakes. The 

 head is rather elongate and remarkably flat above, and especially so 

 on the snout, this being due to the marked ridge (canthus rostralis) 

 proceeding forwards from the eye-brow. The muzzle is rather 

 narrow in front, the head broadest midway between the eyes and the 

 neck. The nostril is rather small, and placed near the middle of a 

 shield which is usually quite divided below, and frequently above the 

 nasal aperture. The eye is rather large with an iris beautifully 

 specked with gold, and a vertical pupil. The commissure of the 

 mouth shows an exaggerated curve opposite the fang. The tail i- 

 about one-seventh the total length of the snake and ends in an 

 elongate terminal shield. The scales on the upper parts are lustre- 

 less, and strongly ridged, the shields beneath smooth, and highly 

 polished. 



Identification. — It is a very easy snake to recognise. To begin with 

 the association of a loreal pit, with large shields on the head pro- 

 claims the genus, and there are only three >pecies within Indian limits, 

 viz., himalayanus, hypnale, and millardi. Both the last have a more 

 or less well marked bos- on the top of the snout — which i> absent in 

 the foremost — and inhabit Hills South of Bombay, or Ceylon. 



Dimensions. — The largest measurement I know of is that recorded 

 by Stoliczka, viz. t 34 inches. I have never seen one more than 25^ 

 inches and L should say that average adults vary from about eiffh- 

 teen inches to two feet. 



