2 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XVII 



The specific name is derived from the Latin words "plumbum" lead, 

 and "color" colour, a title for which Cantor is responsible, hut it is a 

 most inapt and misleading one, since its prevailing colour is a dark 

 foliage green. 



English. — The Green Keelback is, I think, the best name for it, 

 closely allied as it is to the genus Tropidonotus* and manifesting in its 

 scales a degree of keeling in no way inferior to any representative of 

 that genus. 



Vernacular. — I know of none. 



Dimensions. — The largest specimen I have heard of is one 

 obtained by Col. Light at Poona which measured 3'1". Bou- 

 lengerf gives 2'6", but I think the majority of adult specimens range 

 nearer 2'. 



Bodily configuration.' — Head subovate. The eye is set laterally 

 with a very slight inclination forwards, the iris exhibiting a bright 

 golden pupillary margin which clearly reveals the rounded contour of 

 the pupil. The body is stoutish, subcylindrical, and thickest near the 

 middle from which spot the snake attenuates in both directions. The 

 tail which is short and tapers rather rapidly, measures from one- 

 seventh to one-ninth of the total length, being longer in males than 

 females. The upper surface is rough with ridges in its whole length 

 formed by the pronounced keeling of the dorsal scales. 



Colour. — The prevailing colour is grass-green (often dull olive-brown 

 in spirit specimens). Young specimens have a well defined, lamp- 

 black, chevron-shaped collar with the point directed towards or on to 

 the frontal shield. Behind this is a broad gorget of bright yellow or 

 orange (dirty whitish in old spirit specimens) abruptly defined behind 

 by a lamp-black bordering. A black fillet extends from the eye to the 

 gape, and usually some black or blackish spots or markings are present 

 in the forebody with a tendency to a transverse distribution. With age 

 the green acquires a more dusky tone, but I have never seen a specimen 

 that deserved the cognomen plumbicolor. Many of the black marks 

 become obscured, or lost with age, but the fillet from the eye to the 

 gape is, I think, always more or less in evidence. The belly which is 

 usually uniform in colour may be whitish, yellowish, plumbeous green, 

 or even blackish. The throat and chin are yellow or buff. 



* Tropidori'itus is derived from the Greek " tropis " signifying keel and ' ; notns" back, 

 f Fauna of Brit. Ind., J890, p. 351. 



