758 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATVBAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXII. 



specimens one sees a light black-edged stripe on the nape, the edges 

 of which ma}^ be parallel as in onr Plate, or more or less U shaped. 

 The belly is pearly-white, or in the rnddy specimens more or less 

 mottled with pinkish, and is always spotted or mottled with dark 

 tones. Usually there are squarish spots just within the angulation 

 of the ventrals, and arranged with a tendency to miss each alternate 

 or third shield. These spots may be discrete, and distant, or united 

 by a band passing across each ventral, as seen in figure 2 of our 

 Plate. 



A solitary specimen collected by Theobald in the Arakan Hills 

 was made the type of a distinct species (amahilis) by Giinther. It 

 is, however, considered by Mr. Boulenger only a variety of 

 cdbocinctus, differing only in having more numerous bars, viz., 55, 

 with correspondingly shorter intervals, involving from 3 to 4 scales. 



Dimensions. — The average length of an adult is about two to two- 

 and a-half feet. My largest example taped exactly three feet. 



Haunts, liahits, etc. — I have seen very few specimens in life, nearly 

 all having been spirit specimens. As nearly all of these came from 

 Tea Estates in Assam, or in the vicinity of Darjeeling, I may safely 

 infer that this kukri snake is commonly to be met with in the day- 

 time among the tea bushes during plucking operations. Two 

 specimens at least were killed actually inside a bungalow in 

 Dibrugarh. I know nothing of its disposition. 



Food. — I found a mass of soil in the stomach of one, mixed with 

 grits, shreds of vegetable fibre and two longish hairs, which I can 

 only suppose were swallowed during its death throes, the scene 

 being perhaps a stable floor. On the other few occasions, where I 

 have found the stomach full, a mouse had furnished the repast. In 

 one case the tail only was discovered, and the quarry must have 

 made its escape. 



The Sexes.- — In the neighbourhood of Darjeeling the c? appears 

 to be much more abundant than the 5 , I having had no less than 

 23 of the former to 14 of the latter sex. The tail is longer in the 

 (S , as ma}^ be inferred from the numbers of subcaudals, viz., 61 to 

 68, compared with from 42 to 57 in the 5 . There is also some 

 slight difference in the relative lengths of the body in the sexes, 

 but this is not so obvious from the ranges of the ventrals, which 

 number from 181 to 199 (177, Boulenger) in the (^ , and from 182 

 to 206 in the $ . 



Breeding. — My only note bearing on this subject is to the effect 

 that a 5 killed on the 10th of July in Dibrugarh was found with 

 three impregnated ovarian follicles measuring from | to f of an 

 inch. The specimen measured 2 feet 5j inches, but the tail was 

 imperfect, and accounted for only 4 inches of that length. 



Diatrihution. — The light-barred kukri snake has a more re- 

 stricted range of distribution than most of the snakes dealt with in 



