THE POISONOUS SNAKES OF INDIA. 71 



tinguish them from all the rest of the group. The belly in this snake 

 is, however, uniform red in colour. 



Supplementary characters. — Prcefrontals touch the internasal, pos- 

 terior nasal, pneocular, supraocular and frontal. Temporal. — One, 

 which touches the 5th and 6th supralabials. Supralabials 6. Anterior 

 sublinguals touch the 1st, 3rd and the 4th only of the infralabials. 

 Posterior sublinguals touch the 4th infralabial only. Infralabials. — The 

 4th is the largest of the series, and touches 2 scales behind. Scales 

 are 13 in whole body. Anal entire. Subcaudals divided throughout. 



Distribution.-^- -This Malayan form extends into our Burmese terri- 

 tory, where, however, it is rare. 



Poison. — Nothing is known about it. The poison glands in this and 

 the next are peculiar ; unlike all our other poisonous snakes, instead 

 of being confined to the temple they extend back into the abdominal 

 cavity as far as the heart. 



Dimensions. — Grows to 5 feet. 



Colour. — Blackish above with two or four white lines down the 

 back. Head and tail red, Belly red. 



Doliophis intestinalis — The Belted Coral Snake. 



Identification. — Like the last it has only 6 supralabial shields, and 

 the anal is entire, but the belly is barred with black. 



Supplementary characters. — Prcefrontals touch the internasal, 

 posterior nasal, prseocular, supraocular and frontal. Temporal. — One, 

 which touches the 5th and 6th supralabials. Supralabials 6. Anterior 

 sublinguals touch the 1st, 3rd and 4th infralabials. Posterior sublinguals 

 touch the 4th infralabial. Infralabials. — The 4th is the largest of the 

 series, and touches 2 scales behind. Scales are 13 in whole length 

 of body. Anal entire. Subcaudals divided throughout. 



Distribution. — This like the last belongs to the Malayan fauna, but 

 extends into Burmah. 



Poison. — Nothing known as far as I am aware, though it appears to 

 be fairly common in parts of the Malayan region. 



Dimensions. — Grows to 2 feet. 



Colour. — Boulenger* says: " Brown or blackish above, with darker 

 or lighter longitudinal streaks; tail pink or red beneath; belly with 

 black crossbars." 



{To le continued,} 



* Cat, Saake?, British Museum, VoJ. Ill, p. 402. 



