1018 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETI, Vol. XXI. 



"Ally pam '' are presumablj^ in use in the Vizagapatam District, 

 In most places in India I expect it would come under that very 

 comprehensive title " pani ka samp." Glinther mentions " oular 

 ayer '' as the name by which it is known to the natives in Java^ 

 and Flower says — " In Siam it is called " Ngu-pla," or fish snake, 

 in common with other homalopsids. 



General characters. — The head is moderately depressed and 

 the snout evenly rounded so as to present no canthus. The muzzle 

 is rather long, and presents a moderately rounded anterior outline. 

 The nostrils which are transverse slits, are placed on the top of the 

 snout, and perforate the middle of the nasal shields, a suture 

 running from them to the first supralabials. The eye is rather 

 small, placed high on the face and set laterally with an inclination 

 forwards and upwards. The iris is studded with golden specks, 

 especially at the pupillary margin so that the vertically elliptic 

 shape of the pupil is distinctly revealed. The commissure of the 

 mouth turns up abruptly behind. 



The body is smooth gloss}^ and cjdindrical, of moderate calibre 

 for the length of the snake and dwindles to a neck anteriorly. 

 Posteriorly the attenuation is more gradual. The tail is about one- 

 fifth the total length. 



Dimensions. — I have seen no specimens exceeding the measure- 

 ment given by Boulenger which is 2 feet 2| inches (680 mm). 

 My largest specimen was 2 inches less. 



Colouration. — Dorsally the snake is a dark olivaceous green, or 

 olivaceous brown, this colour ending abruptly on the 3rd costal row 

 above the ventrals, and just above the supralabial on the side of 

 the face. Usually there is a pale stripe down the body on the 8th 

 row above the ventrals, but this may be obscure or even absent. 

 The belly and the lowermost two and a half costal rows are pale 

 lemon-yellow. The ventrals are demarcated laterally by a dark line 

 and there is often too a median continuous, or interrupted dark line 

 in the middle of the bellj^ but this may be entirely absent. 



(IT. hilineata smd H. furcata (Gray). A specimen sent to me 

 by Captain Frere from Mimbu, Burma, has a beautiful coral-pink 

 stripe in the flanks, anteriorly on two rows (the penultimate and 



