17G JOUnyAL, NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY OF SIAM Vol I. 



of one sent me last j^ear, T found the head and fore part of the bodj^ of 

 a young tree-snake {Bendrophis 'pidus). Even the great " tuk-kaa " 

 {Gecko verticillatus) is not secure against this rapacious creature, and I 

 know of several occasions on which it has been tackled. It is not 

 always that the snake comes out of these combats unharmed^ and 

 considering the tremendous bite which this lizard can give, it is not 

 surprising. In one encounter at least that 1 know of, the gecko had 

 got a firm hold immediately behind the head of its opponent, and 

 although the snake rdtimately proved the victor, it was so badly 

 damaged as to be on\y just able to crawl away, leaving its victim 

 uneaten. 



I have seen this snake, also, catch a fall grown mouse, crush 

 it to death in its coils, and swallow it, the whole o})eration being 

 accomplished in mid-air, the snake suspended by its tail only from a 

 small branch. 



Flower calls it the fiercest snake he has ever met, and sa^/s that 

 individuals which he tried to keep in captivitj^ showed no signs of 

 becoming tamer, and were also an annoyance to other inmates of the 

 cage. I have not found this so. Those I have kept became moderatelj^ 

 tame, and soon allowed themselves to be handled. 



Lenrftli. 1400 mm. 



Color. Very variable, but only one form (yar. D. Blgr. C«it. 

 Snakes) is found in Bangkok, and as far as I am aware, throughout the 

 whole of Siam. It is as follows : — Above pale green, each scale edged 

 with black and with a median black line, giving the whole the ap- 

 pearance of fine longitudinal lines drawn down the body, with finer 

 diagonal cross-lines. Below, a paler green, with a series of black dots 

 at the lateral keel. Snbcaudals edged with dark grey. Head yellowish, 

 extensivelj^ marked with black, which takes the form of transverse 

 bars. 



In the young, the black lines mentioned above, coalesce and 

 form a regular sei'ies of dorsal cross-bars. In some specimens this is 

 so marked that the snake appears to be black, with narrow green 

 cross-bars. 



Dii^trihution. India, Ceylon, Burma and Southern China to the 

 Malay Archipelago. 



