THE COMMON INDIAN SNAKES. 757 



rather short, and the skin as in other kukri snakes is not nearly so 

 loose as in most colubrines and vipers. The belly is angulated at 

 the sides. The head is short and broad, and the snout subtruncate. 

 There is no indication of a canthus, and the head even at the back 

 is bai-ely broader than the neck. The nostril is open, and placed 

 between two shields. The eye is of moderate size with round pupil 

 and a yellow iris. The tongue is reddish at the base and black at 

 the tips. The tail is compressed at the base and short, accounting 

 for about one-fifth to one-sixth the total length. 



Colouration. — Though Blyth has remarked on the variability 

 of the snake, and other writers have recognised three, and even 

 four varieties, my experience — I have examined over fifty 

 specimens — shows that it is variable in its general colouration, 

 but wonderfully constant, and distinctive in its markings. The 

 ground colour is brown of various tones, but often more or 

 less strongly tinged with purplish or red. In some the hue is 

 much the same as in a cigar, in others it is like raw beef, and in 

 others again berry-red, and even lobster-red. In the ruddy speci- 

 mens the underlying hue is usually a lobster-red, which on close 

 inspection will be seen at the bases and edges of the scales. A 

 suffusion of brown on the rest of the scale tones down the general 

 colour, which is always however most vivid in the flanks. Rarely 

 there is no suffusion of darker tones, and the specimen is uniform 

 lobster or salmon-red. 



The back is crossed by bars which differ from those seen in 

 arnensis, in being light centrally, and heavily bordered with black. 

 These bars which number from 3 7 to 25 on the body and 4 to 8 

 on the tail are seen at wonderfully regular intervals in the whole 

 lengi}h of the snake, and they involve two or three scales in the 

 body length, the intervals involving from five to eight. Each bar 

 is of uniform width, and extends well into the flanks, its central 

 zone blending with the light underparts. The light central zone 

 may be whitish, greyish- white, grey, or pale yellow, the last hue 

 being often seen in the berry-red examples. In some specimens 

 some rather obscure longitudinal striping may be observed just as 

 one sees in ^S'. cyclurus, and some of the other species. When 

 present this consists of a dark band about five scales broad which 

 passes down the middle of the back, and a narrower similar band on 

 the 3rd and 4th scale rows above the ventrals. 



The head is pale greyish or yellowish and bears the usual three 

 marks which are so characteristic of the kukri snakes. In the 

 lobster-coloured specimens the marks are white. There is a great 

 tendency for some or all of these marks to be disintegrated and more 

 or less confluent, as will be seen in figure 2 («) of our Plate, where 

 the median sagitta is much broken up, and its isolated central 

 macula is confluent with the apex of the nuchal sagitta. In many 



U 



