64 REPTILES. 



Rept. vii. p. 140 & 176. Natrix piscator and N. palustris, Merr. 

 Tent. p. 122, 124. Coluber rectangulus, Gray, Ind. Zool. Co- 

 luber hippus, Reuss, Mus. Senckenb. pi. 9. f. 2. Tropidonotus 

 quincunciatus, Schleg. Ess. pi. 12. f. 4, 5; Dum. c^ Bibr. vii. 

 p. 592. 



Scales in nineteen or twenty-one rows ; two anterior nasals ; 

 one anterior, three posterior oculars; nine upper labials, the 

 fourth and fifth touching the eye. Two narrow, black, oblique 

 streaks extending from the eye across the hinder upper labial 

 shields. Above olive-grey, with three, five, or seven series of 

 square or roundish blackish-ash blotches; beneath yellowish. 



The number and disposition of the shields of the head, the 

 two black streaks — invisible only in one variety — appear to be 

 the most permanent characters of the species, the distribution of 

 the colours being liable to great variation. 



a. Fine specimen. India. 



b. Adult. India. 



c. Adult : not good state. India. Old Collection as Tr. um- 



bratus. 



d. Adult. India. Presented by W. C. Masters, Esq. 



e. Adult. India. 



/. Half-grown: bad state. India. Presented by W. C. Masters, 



Esq. 

 g. Half-grown : head injured. India. Presented by Captain 



Stafford. 

 h. Adult : not good state. Madras. Presented by J. C. Jerdon, 



Esq. 

 i. Adult: bad state. Madras. Presented by J. C. Jerdon, Esq. 

 it. Adult. Sikkim. Presented by Dr. J. Hooker. 

 /, m. Adult. Singapore. Presented by General Hardwicke. 

 n, o. Half-grown. Benares. Presented by Dr. Sayer. 

 p. Adult : skin. India. Presented by the Zoological Society. 

 q. Adult. India. From Mr. Argent's Collection. 

 r. Adult. India. Presented by J. Nimmo, Esq. 

 s. Adult : bad state India. 



t-y. Half-grown. India. From Mr. Argent's Collection. 

 z. Young. India. From Mr. Lund's Collection. 

 a. Young. India. Presented by the Zoological Society. 

 /3. Young. India, 

 ■y. Young : head injured. India. 

 8. Young. India. Presented by W. Masters, Esq. 



Var. A. Coluber melanozostus, Gravenhorst, Vergl. Uebers. 

 p. 402 ; Boie, Isis, 1827, p. 535. Tropidonotus quincunciatus, 

 var., Schleg. Ess. p. 308. Var. C. Dum. <$• Bibr. vii. p. 549. 



