REPTILES. 189 



most other snakes. T. montkoh is thick bodied, and measures about 

 2 feet in length, of which the tail is only 3| inches. It is reddish- 

 hrown with two rows of large, square, black spots along the upper 

 parts of the back, and a row of smaller ones on each side. The 

 under parts arc marbled brown and white. T. carinatus is grass 

 green with a yellowish tail and a white line running along the 

 lower body scales. It is not so heavy as T. monticola, but is about 

 a foot longer. T. gramincus, the third species, is also grass green, 

 but the line along the outer scales is bright red, and the tail is 

 reddish. Both of the green species keep to the hot valleys, ascend- 

 ing to about 4,000 feet, but T. monticola ascends to over 5,000. 

 The Sikhim variety of the krait, Bimgarus ccenikus, is of a uniform 

 blackish-brown and is not common. Bunganis huncjaroidcs is one 

 of the rarest of snakes, and has been collected at 5,000 and G,800 

 feet- It grows to over 2^ feet in length, and is not unlike the 

 young of the giant cobra, being black, banded with white. Callophis 

 mackUandii, the remaining venomous species, is red above and white 

 below, with a very distinctly-defined black vertebral stripe running 

 the whole length of the body, and irregularly-shaped broadish 

 black bands crossing the sides and belly, but not meeting on the 

 back by about half an inch, and between these black bands is a 

 large ventral spot of the same colour. The head, which is small, 

 is banded black and white. It is not uncommon between 5,000 and 

 7,000 feet. Considering the number of venomous species in Sikhim, 

 the immunity of both man and beast in it from snake-bite is remark- 

 able. Fatal cases are almost unknown, and even trivial cases are of 

 rare occurrence. 



Of the non-venomous species, three attain to considerable dimen- 

 sions. The largest of them, by far, is Pijthon molurus, whose usual 

 length is 12 feet, but individuals of 16 to 20 feet arc not very 

 rare. It frequents low elevations, and feeds on small deer and other 

 mammals which it kills by compression. The second in size is Zaocijs 

 nigromarginatus, a very beautiful snake of the cool forests between 

 4,000 and 6,000 feet. It is green (turning blue in spirits) with a 

 broad black band on each side of the hinder half of the body and 

 tail, and all the green scales are margined with black. It is rather 

 thick bodied and grows to nine feet in length. It is peculiar among 

 the Sikhim snakes in having an even number of rows of scales 

 (14), all the others having odd numbers, viz., one vertebral row 

 and an even number on each side. The third in size is Zamenis 

 mucosus, the well-known rat-snake, which grows to seven feet in 

 length. Of the other genera, Tropklonotus is the most numerous, 

 being represented by five species. Several of them swim well, and 

 one, T. viacrophthahmis, has the misfortune to resemble the common 



