THE COMMON INDIAN SNAKES. 1015 



were hatchlings. Here again no dates were given as to date of 

 capture. 



Distribution. — It is probably a commoner snake than available re- 

 cords which are rather meagre would make it appear. Before I 

 went to the United Provinces it was not known to occur any where 

 near there, but was evidently not uncommon. I got several 

 specimens when stationed in Orissa (Berhampore). It is one of 

 the commonest snakes about Bangalore, and is evidently common 

 in Ceylon as I had 3 specimens in a small collection sent me 

 from Henaratgoda. 



It appears to be chiefly, if not entirely, a snake of the plains 

 but is plentiful at 3,000 feet in Mysore, and has been recorded 

 from the Anamallays and the Wynaad without any definite alti- 

 tude being specified. 



1 have examined the three specimens collected by Anderson* 

 in Yunnan which he referred to as a variety, viz., Yunnanensis, 

 but as all these specimens have the internasal shield divided, and 

 a single internasal shield is one of the generic characters, and 

 constant in all the other species it seems to me that these should 

 be referred to a species apart from schistosus and unless the 

 generic characters are modified should not even rank as a Helicops. 

 Besides this feature in lepidosis, there is another, viz., that the 

 nasal shields in Anderson's specimens touch the 1st and 2nd 

 supralabials, whereas in Indian specimens it almost always touches 

 the 1st only. 



The Malay Peninsula which has been included within its area 

 of distribution on Cantor's authority I discredit, having already 

 shown good cause to doubt many of Cantor's records. f No less 

 than six Indian species have been recorded by this authority 

 alone, from the Malay Peninsula, and as he received snakes from 

 India the inference is that Indian specimens got mixed with his 

 own Malay collection. 



The accompanying map shows the area of distribution based on 

 present records, but it seems likely to be extended as our know- 

 ledge progresses. 



* Ann. Zool. Res. Yunnan 1879, p. 822. 

 f Bomb. N. H. JourL, Vol. XVIII, p. 720. 



