A POPULAR TREATISE ON INDIAN SNAKES. 3 



Identification. — Any grass-green snake which has 17 rows of scales 

 in the hind body {i.e., two heads lengths in front of the vent), and has a 

 frontal shield in contact with 6 shields only must be Macropisthodon 

 plumbicolor. With a very little attention to scale characteristics and 

 shape o f pupil it could never be confounded with either of the fore- 

 going snakes discussed in this series. The round pupil serves to dis- 

 tinguish it as readily from all the Green Pit-Vipers, as it does to separate 

 it from all the Green Whip-Snakes. The appended remarks at the con- 

 clusion of this paper will serve to differentiate this from all other 

 green snakes in which the pupil is round. 



Habits. — Flaunts, — Its prasinous coloration indicates a foliaceous 

 environment, but: it is not in the foliage of either bushes or trees that 

 it is met with, but among low terrestrial vegetation, and especially 

 grass. It not infrequently, however, strays from the kindly protection 

 which verdure offers it. Mr. Kinlock says that about Kotagiri 

 (Nilgiri Hills, 5,700') he usually finds it in grass among scrub jungle, 

 and not necessarily in a marshy vicinity. Mr. Gray tells me that at 

 Coonoor (Nilgiri Hills, 6,000') he has now and then known it wander 

 into his rooms, and has frequently seen it about habitations. Gunthor,* 

 too, remarks that it frequently enters houses. 



Disposition. — The formidable armature of its upper jaws (see Fig. 1), 

 belies its disposition, for not only is it a perfectly harmless snake, 

 but it possesses a singularly gentle and inoffensive nature. Mr. Kinloch 

 remarks on it? gentleness, and says it never attempts iO bite. A 

 remarkable feature in the behaviour of this snake, a.vl cne hardly 

 likely to escape observation is its habit of crouching on the ground when 

 molested. Tha wbola body down to the vent is involved in this flattening 

 effort, the object of which does not seem clear. It appears to be a mani- 

 festation indicative of fear. I have noticed the same behaviour to an 

 equal degree in the Himalayan Viper (Ancistrodon himalayanus), the 

 common Chinese Viper {A. blomhofii) and to a lesser degree in 

 Siebold's Water-Snake (Ilypsirhina sieboldii) and the common Burrow- 

 ing Snake (E>'i/d' conieus). In several other snakes a muscular effort 

 akin to this is evinced locally but whilst the creature is in an attitude 

 of menace with the forebody erect. The cobra displays this peculiarity 

 in a very pronounced degree, in the production of its so-called hood 

 and the hamadryad does too, to a lesser degree. Many others behave 



* Kept., Brit. Ind.. 1SG4, p. 27?. 



