ON THE COMMON INDIAN SNAKES. 609 



suggest: — (1) Scales 19 in midbody, and 17 at a point two heads- 

 lengths before the anus. (2) Nasals not touching the 2nd supralabial; 

 (3) Rostral touching G shields and (4) a single anterior temporal. 



Dimensions .—I have about 200 recorded measurements in my 

 note-books and find that the length differs considerably in the 

 sexes. Of J c? I have only had 8 specimens of 1 foot 9 inches 

 and over, of which only 4 reached 1 foot 10 inches the largest 

 being 1 foot 10^ inches. On the other hand I have had 13 2 2 

 exceeding 2 feet in length. Two taped 2 feet 4 inches in 

 Dibrugarh, and another 2 feet 5 inches in Fyzabad. Another 

 specimen from Dibrugarh I judge to have been still larger, for the 

 body was 1 foot 11-^ inches, out of a total length of 2 feet 

 4 inches. In three $ 2 in which the total lengths were 2 feet 

 and ^ an inch, 2 feet 1^ inches, and 2 feet If inches, the tails 

 measured 6 and 0^ inches respectively so that at the lowest 

 computation this specimen would have been if perfect two inches 

 longer, and possibly three, making a length of 2 feet 6 or 7 inches. 



Disposition. — This is a remarkably inoffensive little creature. 

 Of all the snakes I know, it ranks among the most gentle, for 

 1 have picked it up scores of times in its native haunts, and I have 

 never once been bitten or even struck at. Mr. Millard writes to 

 me: — -i It is the most gentle snake that I know. I cannot remember 

 one ever having attempted to bite even when caught in the open. " 

 This placid disposition is all the more remarkable when one 

 considers that the other common species of the same genus in the 

 Indian Plains, viz., piscator is among the most truculent of snakes. 

 Little " buffstripes :! is easily alarmed, and when danger threatens, 

 turns, and glides off as rapidly as possible to any protection the 

 nature of the ground may offer, and it is an adept in the art of 

 concealing itself in the smallest patch of scrub or grass, some- 

 times vanishing in a most uncanny way. Probably it has found 

 a hole and secreted itself therein, but a careful and systematic 

 search sometimes fails to reveal the mystery of its disappearance. 

 When brought into the open, it exhibits a lively activity making 

 repeated attempts to escape. 



When irritated some specimens but by no means all erect them- 

 selves, flattening the neck and forebody ventrovertebrally. This 



