THE DIPSAS. 



A VERY beautiful example of the Wood-Snakes is found in Ceylon. This is the 

 BROWN WOOD-SNAKE (Passerita mycterizans). Like the langaha, the snout of this Ser- 

 pent is furnished with an appendage, which is pointed, and covered with scales, and 

 is about one-fourth as long as the head. This appendage is conspicuous, but its use 

 is not very plain. It lives almost wholly in trees, and is nocturnal in its habits, travers- 

 ing the boughs at night for the purpose of catching the small birds as they sleep, tak- 

 ing their young out of the nest, and preying upon the lizards and geckos which also 

 prowl about the trees by night in search of their insect food. There are two varieties 

 of this beautiful Serpent, one being bright green above, with a yellow stripe down each 





GOLDEN TREE-SNAKE. Drylophls acumlnata. 



LANQ\H\.Laagaha amsut*. 



side, and paler below ; while the other is brown, glossed with purple, and without the yel- 

 low stripe. This variety is rare. The length of these Snakes rarely exceeds three feet. 



THE DIPSAS and its congeners may be known from the preceding Snakes, which they 

 much resemble in general form, by the large size of the head compared with the ex- 

 tremely delicate and slender neck. The body, too, is much wider in the centre, causing 

 the neck and tail to appear disproportionately small. This Snake is a native of many 



