20 Col. E. H. Beddome o)i the 



Silyhura melanog aster. 



RMnophis melanogaster, Peters, Monogr. p. 18, tab. ii. fig. 4. 

 Mytilia ( Crealia) melanog aster, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1858, p. 264. 

 Plectrurus ceylonicus, Peters, Monatsber. Berl. Acad. 1859, p. 338. 

 RMnophis Blythii, Giiuther, llept. of Brit. lad. (in part ouly). 



Snout rather pointed ; rostral small, flat or very slightly- 

 compressed, nearly as long- as the vertical, separating the 

 nasals, but not reacliing to the middle of the frontals, or in 

 some cases only barely touching those shields ; eye very 

 small ; caudal disk convex, terminal scute small, generally 

 more or less bicuspid, with the points side by side, sometimes 

 square at the end ; faint traces of keels are generally present 

 more or less on the scales of the lower surface of the tail, and 

 sometimes on a few of the terminal ones of the upper surface, 

 and these traces are clearer in t)ie males than in the females ; 

 no cliin-shields between the first pair of lower labials and the 

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

 ventrals only a little larger than the adjoining scales, about 

 154 to 156 in the males, and 162 to 166 in the females ; sub- 

 caudals 9 to 12 in the males, 4 to 6 in the females. Length 

 10-12 inches, girth i inch to 1 inch. Back and belly brownish 

 or blackish ; a more or less perfect yellowish lateral streak 

 along each side ; no transverse band in front of tail. 



Hah. Ceylon, central provinces, about Kandy and Pera- 

 denia and elsewhere, very common. 



This species has generally been placed in the genus RMn- 

 opMs ; the terminal scute of the tail is, however, quite that 

 of Silyhura^ the separation of the nasal shields by the 

 rostral is not a generic character peculiar to Rhinophis^ as it 

 occurs also in 8. pulneyeiists and Giintheri^ and occasionally 

 in 8. grandis and nigra ; again, the male of this species has a 

 greater number of subcaudals than ever occurs in any of the 

 species of RMnophis^ but agrees in this respect with Silyhura. 



B. Snout variable. 



Silyhura EUiotii. 



Sihiboxira ceyhniciis, Gray, Cat. of Lizards, p. 142, excl. synonym. 



Silobmira Ellioti, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. xxvi. p. 2G2 (18o8). 



Silybura Elliotti, Giinther, Reptiles of Brit. India, p. 190, in part (the 



male specimens) ; Giinther, Proc. Zool. Soc. March IG, 1875, p. 228. 

 Silybura Beddomei, Giinther, Kept. Brit. India, p. 190, and Proc. Zool. 



Soc. I. c, 

 Silybura punctata, Giiuther, Proc. Zool. Soc. /. c. p. 229. 



Snout pointed or more or less obtusely conical ; rostral 

 varying in length and often compressed into a slight keel, not 

 separating the nasals; eye small; caudal disk convex, the 



