MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 229 



this the explanation, or does a crocodile require stones to aid its digestion in 

 the same way that birds require sand ? 



Hardwak, U. P., H. W. FORSYTH, Captain, R. E. 



9t7i January 1910. 



No. XXVI —REMARKS ON THE VARIETIES AND DISTRIBUTION 



OF THE COMMON GREEN WHIPSNAKE (DRYOPHIS 



MYCTERIZANS). 



Since my article on the green whipsnake (Dryophis mycterizans) appeared in 

 the Popular Treatise Series in this Journal (Vol, XVI, p. 542), further allusions 

 to this snake have appeared from time to time in literature which I think 

 •deserve collation. 



No less than five varieties may be recognised, four of these being colour 

 varieties. 



Variety typica. This is the common form. It is dorsally of a uniform leaf- 

 green colour, and ventrally between the lateral white or yellow stripes which 

 run down the whole belly length on to the tail, it is green of a lighter shade 

 and peculiarly brilliant hue. 



Variety lepidorostralis. Dr. Annandale (Mem. Asiatic, Soc. Bengal., Vol. 1. 

 No. 10, p. 196) alludes to a new variety which differs from typica in having 

 the nasal appendage covered with small scales, such as occur in the species 

 pulverulentus, only that they are larger (in this variety of mycterizans). That 

 this is not a colour variety of pulverulentus, he states, is shown by the nasal 

 appendage being shorter than the diameter of the eye. This variety appears 

 to be peculiar to Bengal. The Superintendent in the Zoological Gardens, 

 Calcutta, told Dr. Annandale that he frequently noticed this peculiarity 

 among specimens from Midnapore. 1 saw such a specimen in the Zoo in 

 Calcutta last time I visited it, and was allowed to remove it and inspect it 

 closely. I have never seen such a specimen from any other part of our Indian 

 Dominions. It is coloured exactly like typica. It is such a distinct variety 

 that I suggest the name lepidorostralis for it. 



Variety zephrogaster. This differs from typica in that the belly between the 

 lateral ventral stripes is of a cinereous grey. The first allusion to such a speci- 

 men is that reported upon and figured by Dr. Russell in 1796 (Ind. Serp., 

 Plate XIII). 



1 had a similar specimen brought to me in Trichinopoly in March 1896. 

 Later I alluded in this Journal (Vol. XVIII, p. 783) to three specimens which 

 I believed came from Burma, but which might possibly have been received 

 with a collection from Ceylon. I am more than ever convinced that these 

 specimens came from Burma because since then I have twice heard from 

 Colonel G. H. Evans of similar specimens. In March 1908 he wrote of two 

 such specimens that he had captured alive and examined, and in December of 

 the same year told me he had acquired two others. All of these he had 



