Earth- Snakes of India and Ceylon. 33 



i 8 subcaudals and 173 ventrals. 



Platyplectrurus madurensis, 

 Plafyplectrurus madurensis, Bedd, Proc. Zool. Soc. March 16, 1877. 



Snout very obtusely rounded ; rostral very small, scarcely 

 reaching the surface of the head ; nasals very large ; vertical 

 six-sided, not much produced beliind ; supraorbital three 

 times as large as the postocular (which latter is rarely con- 

 fluent with it) ; a long temporal shield always present; tail 

 not much compressed, the scales quite smooth, the terminal 

 scute horny, in the male with a sharp horizontal ridge and 

 compressed into a ridge on the upper surface, which ends in a 

 single point, in the female very small, size of 1 to 2 scales 

 only, and ending in a single point, with sometimes traces 

 of the horizontal ridge. Scales round the middle of the body 

 in 15 rows ; ventrals not twice as large as the scales of the 

 adjoining series, 149 to 159 in males to 170 to 176 in females ; 

 subcaudals 14 or 15 pairs in males, 9 to 11 pairs in females. 

 Length of adults 12-14 inches, females up to 1^ inch in girth, 

 males about f of an inch only. Above a nacreous purplish 

 brown ; ventrals and the two adjoining series of scales on each 

 side white in the centre, but with a very complete ring round 

 the margins of the same colour as the back. 



Hab. Pulney mountains (Madura district), about Kodie- 

 karnal, 6000 feet elevation, and a little above Shembaganoor, 

 5000 feet; also about Peermede, on the Travancore Hills, 

 4000 feet elevation. 



Plafyplectrurus bilmeatus, n. sp. 



Snout very obtusely rounded ; rostral small, just reaching 

 the surface of the head; nasals large; vertical six-sided; 

 supraorbital as in madurensis ; a long temporal shield always 

 present ; tail not much compressed, the scales quite smooth, 

 the terminal scute somewhat dilated horizontally, ending in a 

 small, single, upturned point. Scales round the body in 15 

 rows ; ventrals twice as lai'ge as the adjoining scales, 168 to 

 172 ; subcaudals 13 or 14. Length 6-7 inches, girth J of an 

 inch. Body blackish, with a continuous longitudinal yel- 

 lowish line down each side of the back, on the rows of scales 

 on each side of the central dorsal series. 



Hab. Madura Hills. The specimens are probably not 

 adult. 



Ann. ds Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 5. Vol. xvii. 3 



