Earth- Snakes of India and Ceylon. 31 



trals and half of the first and third row, the scales in the 

 second row each with a black dot in their centre ; tail yellow 

 underneath. 



Hah. The Wynad (Malabar) , in forests on the Peria Peak 

 and on the Tirrhioot Peak, 4000 feet elevation. Only four 

 examples were found, three adults and one young. Two adults 

 with 15 subcaudals each have respectively 184 and 191 ven- 

 trals, and one adult with 16 subcaudals has 200 ventrals ; the 

 young one has 17 subcaudals. 



Melanophidmm punctatum. 

 Melanoplddium punctatum, Bedd. Madr. Journ. Med. Science, Dec. 1871. 



Snout obtuse ; rostral shield rather small, simply convex, 

 nearly as high as broad ; nasals forming a suture behind the 

 rostral ; frontals much larger than nasals "; vertical hexagonal, 

 nearly as broad as long, with an obtuse angle in front and 

 an acute one behind ; eye very small, well within the margin 

 of the ocular shield and about one fourth its size ; caudal 

 scales all quite smooth, the terminal horny scute 1^ to 2 lines 

 long above, very little produced below the tail, furnished 

 with two parallel ridges above, each ending in a small spine, 

 side by side or superposed, or sometimes the terminal scute is 

 only simply pointed. Scales in 15 rows round the middle of 

 body; ventrals twice as broad as the adjoining scales, 183 to 

 198; subcaudals 15 to 17 (in all the six specimens collected) ; 

 anal large, bifid. Length 16-21 inches, with a girth up to 

 If inch. Back uniform blackish, very iridescent ; belly and 

 sides whitish, each of the three rows of scales on each side of 

 the ventrals with a very regular oblong black blotch, forming 

 three very regular parallel lines on each side ; each ventral 

 and subcaudal with a large parallelogrammoid black blotch. 



Hah. Travancore Hills ; in the Mutikuli Vayal, a valley in 

 the mountains in South Travancore, elevation 4500 feet ; also 

 about Peermede and the neighbouring forest, in North Travan- 

 core, elevation about 4000 feet. 



Platyplecteurus. 



Platyplectnirus, Giinther, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., June 1868. 



Head very flat; cleft of the mouth deep; snout broad, 

 very obtusely rounded ; eye distinct, rather large, surrounded 

 by the supraorbital, postocular, frontal, and fourth labial; 

 a long temporal shield between the fourth labial and the 

 occipital ; tail rather long, tapering, the posterior part some- 

 what compressed ; the caudal scales quite smooth, or with 



