182 DR. J. ANDERSON ON INDIAN REPTILES. [Feb. 21, 



the nostrils. There are seven teeth in the upper jaw — the first or 

 rather short curved tooth, succeeded by three other short stout teeth, 

 followed by two other very long slender teeth ; and the series is com- 

 pleted by a strong grooved tooth in a special sack. The first two 

 palatal teeth are very much longer and stronger than the others, and 

 nearly eqnal the longest maxillary teeth. One peculiarity of the 

 arrangement of the scales in this genus is their elevation, as it were, 

 above the skin, and the circumstance that the tip of one scale, al- 

 though it reaches forwards, rests on and between the middle of the 

 pair anterior to its tip, barely reaches beyond the scale in front, and 

 rarely touches it. The result is that there is the appearance pro- 

 duced as if there were a kind of pit or depression at the base of each 

 scale, an appearance which is heightened from the circumstance that 

 the base of each scale is black. The strong keeling of the ventrals 

 is another peculiarity of this interesting genus. 



The general colour of the lower half of the Snake is pale yellow, 

 the upper surface being ashy grey with a few scattered spots on the 

 neck, the back and tail with about fifty-seven or fifty-eight trans- 

 verse black bands. 



Two of Cantor's three specimens were captured in fishing-stakes in 

 the sea off the coast of Keddah ; the third was washed ashore at 

 Pinang. Dr. Stoliczka* describes this Snake as common at the mouth 

 of the Moulmein river, especially near Amherst, and seems inclined to 

 regard it more as an inhabitant of brackish than salt water. Its dis- 

 coverer describes it as moving actively and without difficulty over 

 the sand, and that it did not offer to bite ; but Dr. Stoliczka remarks 

 that it is very fierce — an opinion which the Burmese appear to share 

 with him. 



Psammophis condanarus, Merr. ; Gthr. I. c. p. 291. 



This specimen agrees with all the structural details as given by 

 G anther, but not with his description of the colour. This specimen 

 measures 32 inches, but not entire. The general colour may be de- 

 scribed as brown, slightly paler on the head. As described by 

 ( i anther, a yellow black-edged streak runs from the rostral along 

 the canthus rostralis and superciliary shield on to the neck, where it 

 becomes broader and is prolonged along the side to the end of the 

 tail, increasing in width on the middle of the body. Another yellow 

 black- edged line runs backwards from the rostral, along the suture 

 of the frontals, to the anterior extremity of the vertical, where it di- 

 vides, one branch running along each side of that shield to near its 

 end, where it makes a slight outward bend, and then runs backwards 

 through the centre of each occipital, as a yellow band on each side 

 of the vertebral line as far back as the root of the tail. Another nar- 

 row yellow black-edged line runs from the rostral, below the loreal 

 * Journ. As. Soc. Beng. vol. xxxix. 1870, p. 207. 



