Earth- Snakes of India and CeijJon. 13 



specimens in which the nasals form a suture behind the ros- 

 tral) , fewer ventrals, the belly uniform blackish, and the spots 

 on the back occllated ; in typical >S'. nigra the nasals form a 

 suture behind the rostral, the ventrals are more in number, 

 and the spots are not occllated ; further collections, however, 

 have shown that these characters are not constant, and I 

 believe that any herpetologist examining all the specimens in 

 the British Museum would unite the two. Dr. Giinther's 

 name is the older, but is now occupied by a Ceylon species, as 

 I have found it necessary to remove Rhinojyhis melanogaster 

 to Silyhura. 



** Scales in 17 roics. 

 II Caudal dish flat. 

 A. Snout pointed. 



Silyh lira dii idigalensis. 

 Silybura dindignlensis, Bedd. Proc. Zool. Soc. March 0, 1877, p. 167. 



Snout pointed ; rostral sharp (as in S/'o^f^r/^aw**), produced 

 back, but not separating the nasals ,• eye very small j caudal 

 disk flat, the terminal scute rather large, square at the end, or 

 terminating in two points side by side, the caudal scales 

 prominently 3-8-keeled (or, where confluent, with many more 

 keels) ; no chin-shields between the lower labials and the 

 ventrals ; the scales in 17 rows round the middle of the body ; 

 ventrals twice as large as the scales of the adjoining series, 

 from 158 in males to 169 in females ; subcaudals, 10 pairs in 

 males, about 6 pairs in females, or some of them often single. 

 Length 12-15 inches, by If inch in girth. Body yellowish, 

 with an open net-pattern of black markings ; belly blackish, 

 with very irregular transverse bars of yellow ; a yellow line 

 runs along the labials and a short way along the sides of the 

 trunk ; tail yellow beneath. 



Hah. Sirumallays, in the Madura district, 4000 to 5000 feet 

 elevation. 



The black markings have a tendency to form cross bars ; 

 but the spots are never ocellated as in ti. Broitghamij which it 

 much resembles in colour ; the head and tail are quite the 

 same in both, but as it has only 17 rows of scales and the 

 ventrals differ so considerably in number they must be 

 regarded as distinct species. 



