MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 165 



from midbody and secondly about % of the distance by the union of the 

 4th and 5th rows on the right and of the 5th and 6th rows on the left 

 in both cases. There are 180 ventral shields, an undivided anal shield and 

 35 pairs of subcaudal ones. The most remarkable thing about the snake's 

 appearance is the enlargement of the rostral shield, not only in its prolong- 

 ation over the upper surface of the snout, but in its thickness and the way 

 it appears to have been added after the rest of the snake was finished. 

 It touches 8 other shields of which 4 are the curious internasals. The 

 two median ones of these are very small, posteriorly angulate, and project 

 backwards between the two prsefrontal shields so as nearly to separate 

 them. The other pair of internasals lie one on either side of the head, 

 scarcely extending to the upper surface and are in contact with the rostral, 

 both the nasals, the praefrontal and the median internasals. The single 

 pair of prtBfrontal shields (note the aberrant case from Sagaing recorded by 

 Wall and Evans) extend well over the sides of the head, where they meet 

 the outer internasals, the posterior nasals, loreal, upper prseocular, and on 

 the upper surface the supraocular frontal and median internasals. The 

 frontal exceeds its distance from the end of the snout and is equal in 

 length with the parietals, which are broad and extend well over the sides 

 of the head. The supraocular is large, but not so large as the frontal. 



The horizontal diameter of the eye equals the distance from the anterior 

 edge of the nostril, which is pierced in a somewhat downward direction 

 between the Juxtaposed nasals at the top of their suture. There is a single 

 loreal almost rectangular and slightly deeper than long. There are also 

 two prseoculars, the lower (the subocular of Boulenger) being a small scale 

 fitted into the angle of the 3rd and 4th supralabials, also two subequal 

 postoculars followed by two temporal shields. The supralabials are eight, 

 of which the 4th and 5th border the orbit and the 7th is the largest. Four 

 inf ralabials touch the anterior sublinguals, and the 4th and 5th the posterior, 

 which are rather more than half the length of the anterior ones. 



The colour is creamy above : there are 13 large irregular blotches of 

 brown with black edges on the body. The first of these is divided by a 

 creamy vertebral line except anteriorly where the dark marking narrows, 

 unites and runs forward on to the head as far as the frontal shield. The 

 last of these blotches is exactly over the vent. The next one before it and 

 the third one before it are only about half the size of the others, and are com- 

 pletely divided by the creamy vertebral line, which makes a deep impres- 

 sion in both anterior and posterior borders of all the rest. From the last 

 blotch on the body a pair of black lines run back on either side of the 

 vertebral line to the tip of the tail, and in four places these are distinctly 

 thickened outwards making four more dark patches, of which the last is on 

 the tip of the tail. Over the rest of the upper surface of the head, extend- 

 ing on to the labials but not covering them and between the blotches on 

 the body and tail, except in the vertebral region there is a thick speckling 

 of dusky brown. On either side beneath is a row of small brown spots, 

 which begins some distance behind the head and does not reach the vent. 

 The remainder of the lower surface, including the labial margins, is white, 

 the rostral alone being speckled with brown. 



The specimen contains six large ova, the largest of which measures 1'38 

 inches by 0-33 inch. The foremost of these reposes on the left side of the 

 body with its anterior end opposite the 115th ventral shield from the head. 

 The next is on the right overlapping the first. The remainder are disposed 

 diagonally overlapping each other, their anterior ends being on the left 

 and their posterior on the right. They are soft skinned, and their 

 contents of a thick cream-like consistency showing no signs of develop- 

 ment as far as can be seen without dissection. In one case only I 



