178 Zoological Society :— 
pointed behind ; caudal disk very large and well-defined ; scales very 
strongly 2-3-keeled ; terminal scale large, slightly bicuspid. Scales 
of the body in 17 rows, on the neck in 19. Hye very large. Total 
length 9 inches. Colour blackish, with large dull yellowish white 
mottlings (the two colours nearly equally divided); tail beneath 
black, with a yellowish band on each side. Abdominals 134; sub- 
caudals 10. 
Shevaroy Hills (4500 feet elevation). Forwarded to me by Dr. 
Short. 
2. SILYBURA OCELLATA. 
Rostral pointed and much produced ; nasal scutella meeting be- 
hind the rostral, and separating it from the frontals ; eye very small, 
obscure, in front of ocular shield ; other shields and labials as in the 
genus; scales round the neck in 18 rows, round the trunk in 17 ; 
caudal disk not very clearly defined; scales 2—5-keeled ; terminal 
shield entire, or slightly 2-3-pronged ; abdominals 199 ; subcaudals 
8 or 10 pairs, some generally entire. Total length 14} inches. 
Colour of the body of the male yellowish, becoming gradually brown 
near the head and tail, of the female dull brownish, of the young 
dark purplish brown ; all banded with transverse rows of four or five 
black-edged white or yellow spots (like eyes), generally rather irre- 
gularly placed. Sides of the belly with transverse, very irregular- 
shaped, yellow or white blotches, rarely meeting over the abdominals, 
and forming a transverse band. 
Walaghat, on the western slopes of the Nilgherries, at an eleva- 
tion of 3500 feet, in the dense moist forests. I procured three 
specimens—male, female, and young. 
3. SILYBURA BREVIS, Giinther. 
The specimen differs from the one described by Dr. Giinther in 
having sixteen rows of scales instead of seventeen, and in the ter- 
minal scale of the tail being entire and not bicuspid. 
I procured this specimen on the Nilgherries ; the one described 
by Dr. Giinther was found on the Anamallays. 
4. SILYBURA NILGHERRIENSIS. 
Scales in 17 rows; anal large, bifid ; subcaudals 9 ; snout obtuse : 
rostral far produced back between the nasals ; nasals just meeting 
behind the rostral; vertical 6-sided, pointed in front and behind ; 
eye rather large, in front of ocular shield ; caudal disk well defined : 
scales very prominently 2—3-keeled ; terminal scale ending in two 
points. Colour of the body of an indigo-hue, with small dull yellow 
blotches; belly dull yellowish. Length 17 inches ; circumference 
3 inches. 
Ootacamund, Nilgherries, 7000 feet elevation. 
This is by far the largest Earth-snake we have in Southern India. 
It is possible that S. dzevis may be the young of this species : they 
are, however, found at different elevations ; and without intermediate 
forms I cannot venture to unite them, that being the smallest Earth- 
snake in our presidency, and this the largest. There is, however, 
