Earth- Snakes of India and Ceylon. 19 



b. Not ocellated. 



Silyhura macrorhyncha. 



Silyhurn jnacrorhyncha, Bedd. Proc. Zool. Soc. March 6, 1877. 



Snout sliarply pointed ; rosti-cil nearly ^ inch long, very 

 acute and compressed into a sharp ridge ; nasals large, very- 

 oblique, broad below, very narrow upwards, and only just 

 meeting behind the rostral ,• eye very small ; vertical square 

 in front, shield-shaped and three-sided ; caudal disk more or 

 less convex, terminal scute large, bicuspid, the points side by 

 side; the caudal scales prominently 4-5-keeled; no chin-shields, 

 and the first pair of lower labials do not form a suture behind 

 the mental. Scales round the middle of body in 17 rows ; 

 ventrals twice as large as adjoining series, 226, with 6 pairs 

 of subcaudals (female). Length 22 inches, with a girth of 

 1|- inch. Colour uniform brown, but somewhat paler below ; 

 a lateral yellow band along tlie anterior portion of the trunk 

 for a short distance, commencing at the fourth labial; tail 

 black below, with a yellow band on each side. 



Hah. Anamallays, dense forests above Ponachi, at an ele- 

 vation of 4000 feet. A unique specimen in the British 

 Museum. 



The coloration is quite that of 8, ElUotii, and when I first 

 found it I set it down as a very large form of S. Beddomei ; but 

 its much larger size, its very long and sharp rostral, and the 

 much greater number of ventrals make this, I think, almost 

 impossible. 



Silyhura nitida. 

 Silyhtira nitida, Bedd. Proc. Zool. Soc. Feb. 5, 1878. 



Snout scarcely pointed; rostral very small, sometimes 

 somewhat compressed and pointed, not separating the nasals ; 

 eye very small ; caudal disk convex, terminal scute square or 

 bicuspid, the caudal scales slightly keeled ; no chin- shields 

 between the first pair of lower labials and the ventrals. Scales 

 in 17 rows round the middle of the body ; ventrals twice as 

 large as the adjoining scales, from 185 to 194, without refer- 

 ence to sex ; subcaudals, in the males 12 pairs, in the 

 females 5 or 6 pairs. Length up to about 14 inches, girth 

 about Ij inch. Colour nearly jet-black, but very iridescent ; 

 the belly (ventrals and 2 or 3 outer rows of scales) with very 

 distant, broad, bright yellow blotches, which sometimes meet 

 and form cross bars, the black colour much predominating. 



Hah. The Anamallays, about the Nelliampady estates on 

 the Cochin side, elevation 4000 to 5000 feet. 



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