JOURNAL 



OF THIS 



BOMBAY 



Uatnral Histoid j^otkty. 



Vol, XVII. BOMBAY. No. 2, 



A POPULAR TREATISE ON !HE COMMON INDIAN 



SNAKES. 



Illustrated by Colour kd Plates and Diagrams. 



By Captain F. Wall, I.M.S., O.M.Z.S. 



Part III— With Plate III and Diagram VII. 



(Continued from / age 9 of this Vo'.ume.) 



The Dhaman or Common Matsn^ke (Zamenis mucoms). 



Nomendatu-e. (a) Scientific — The generic name is from t'L 

 Gr^ek ?* l: great" unci t***o< "strength," and the specific fr<m the Lat? r 

 mucosus, " slimy," which I need hardly remark this snake do more 

 deserves than any other of the suborder Ophidia. It appears to be a 

 popular notion that a snake is slimy, and even in these enlightened 

 days writers of travels, etc., frequently expose their ignorance by using 

 this inappropriate adjective to them, borne of our readers may ba 

 more familiar with its older generic title Plya*, also a calumnious 

 epithet derived from the Creek, •»">*< a '* sp'tter." 



(h) English. — The name by wh'ch it is generally known is the "com- 

 mon ntsnake," but " dhaman," a name bjrroweJ from the vernacular, h 

 almost as frequently in use. 



(c) Vernacular. — In Bengali, Hindi, and Marathi, all languages 



derived from Sanskrit, it is ciltad " dhaman," the Sanskrit word bein2 



" dha i ana. " It is also cu'Ij.1 soreutimes ''diimeen." Russell makes 



mention of this latter name*, and 1 hive hear 1 it often. Woodrow in 1 \\ 



• Ltd. Serp., Vol. L, plate XXV. 



