758 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXII. 



specimens one sees a light black-edged stripe on the nape, the edges 

 of which may be parallel as in our Plate, or more or less U shaped. 

 The belly is pearly-white, or in the ruddy specimens more or less 

 mottled with pinkish, and is always spotted or mottled with dark 

 tones. Usually there are squarish spots just within the angulation 

 of the ventrals, and arranged with a tendency to miss each alternate- 

 in- third shield. These spots may lie discrete, and distant, or united 

 by a band passing across each ventral, as seen in figure 2 of our 

 I Mate. 



A solitary specimen collected by Theobald in the Arakan Hills 

 was made the type of a distinct species (amahilis) by Giinther. It 

 is. however, considered by Mr. Boulenger only a variety of 

 albocinctus, differing only in having more numerous bars, viz., 55, 

 with correspondingly shorter intervals, involving from o to I scales. 



Dimensions. — The average length of an adult is about two to two- 

 and a-half feet. My largest example taped exactly three feet. 



Haunts, Habits, etc. — I have seen very tew specimens in life, nearly 

 all having been spirit specimens. As nearly all of these came from 

 Tea Estates in Assam, or in the vicinity of Darjeeling, I may safely 

 infer that this kukri snake is commonly to be met with in the day- 

 time among the tea bushes during plucking operations. Two 

 specimens at least were killed actually inside a bungalow in 

 I 'ibrugarh. I know nothing of its disposition. 



Food. — I found a moss of soil in the stomach of one, mixed with 

 grits, shreds of vegetable fibre and two longish hairs, which I can 

 only suppose were swallowed during its death throes, the scene 

 being perhaps a stable floor. On the other few occasions, where I 

 have found the stomach full, a mouse had furnished the repast. In 

 "tie case the tail only was discovered, and the quarry must have 

 made its escape. 



The Sexes. — In the neighbourhood of Darjeeling the d appears 

 to be much more abundant than the £ , I having had no less than 

 23 of the former to 14 of the latter sex. The tail is longer in the 

 S , as may be inferred from the numbers of sttbcaudals, viz., CI to 

 68, compared with from 42 to 57 in the 2 • There is also some 

 slighl difference in the relative lengths of the body in the sexes, 

 but this is not so obvious from the ranges of the ventrals, which 

 number from 181 to 199 (177, Boulenger) in the j , and from 182 

 1- 206 in the $ . 



Breeding. — My only note bearing on this subject is to the effect 

 thai a J killed on the 10th of -Inly in Dibrugarh was found with 

 three impregnated ovarian follicles measuring from ^ to § of an 

 inch. The specimen measured 2 feet 5£ inches, but the tail was 

 imperfect, and accounted for only 4 inches of that length. 



Distribution. — The light-barred kukri snake has a more re- 

 stricted range of distribution than most of the snakes dealt with in 



