U JOVLTAl. KATVL'AL HIST. SOCIETY OF SIAM. Vol. I. 



Color ( in life). AA^hen fir.-^t caught it is u-ii.ill}" not sufFicient- 

 \\ clean to make ont any definite markings, but the actual coloration 

 (after washing) will be found to be as follows. Above, dull brown 

 or grej'ish brown, paler below, and with a line of dark, circular or 

 or oblong blotc^hes on either tlank. These markings, the great girth, 

 and the loose, baggy skin covered with tuberclps, instead of scales, 

 serve to distijiguish this s])ecies c^uite easily from all others. Its title 

 of the h^lephant's Trunk Snake is a very appropriate one. 



Nahitat. Siam and the ^Malaj' I'eninsula, .Java and Xtw 

 (jiiinea. 



8. Chersi/dru.9 f/ranidatus. Closely allied to the preceding, but 

 much smaller. Flower in his list mentions a specimen which was in the 

 Museum during his time and was labelled •'Bangkok-." This snake 

 is an inhabitant of river mouths and the adjacent sea-coasts. It is 

 common at Tacheen whei'e it is often caught with tlie fish at the 

 stakes. It is )iot unlikel}' therefore that one may occasionally be 

 carried up here b}' some unusual!}^ high tide or upon some fishing 

 l)oat. It can. howevei-, only be looked upon as an accidental visitor. 



Subfamily CoLrHPJUAK. 



9. ^J'rtfjiiiToiudiis jii?ciiior. 



Siamese <3 CIU C^B ( 'ig^i hai saw). Very connnon in Bangkok, 

 ))cing jdentiful evei'ywhere, cspeciaTy in the padi-fields diiring the wet 

 Aveather. It is iar and away the commonest snake that is met with 

 ■^slien out snipe shooting. Dui-ing the hot weather it is not much in 

 eviilfiice, confining itself to the banks of klongs and pools: but with 

 the advent of the rains and consequent flooding of the fields it roams 

 about all over tlie country, finding ever3^where abundance of its favour- 

 ite food — frogs and fish. It makes no attempt to kill its prey, but 

 j)roceeds at once to swallow it alive, and the piiif'ul ciles of the frog 

 as it is slowly e)igulphed nnist be well known to eveiycjiie who has 

 .-jtent much time in the Fields.* Fish it will devour with great 

 voracity, and in the small puddles that form as the ground diies up 

 and where the fish get iierded together, it m.i}- ])e found making huge 



* This }irocf<!nre may seem extren ely cruel, biit. afier all. Nature 

 has not provided the snake with any oiher means of dk^pcsiiig of its j'rt'V. 



