168 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXIIL 



internaso-prsefrontal sutures. Prcefrontals. — A pair ; the suture between them 

 greater than the prsefronto-f rental. Frontal.— Tlo\ich.es 8 shields ; the f ronto- 

 supraocular sutures subequal to the fronto-parietals. iV"«sffZs.— Divided ; in 

 contact with the 1st and 2nd supralabials. Loreal.—One, touching the eye 

 beneath the prseocular. 



Prcsocular.— One, just touching the frontal. Fostoeulars.—Two. Tem- 

 porals.— Small and scale-like. Supralabials.— 8, the 3rd, 4th and 5th touching 

 the eye. Infralabials.—6 ; the 6th and 6th touching the posterior sublinguals. 

 Sublinguals. — Two pairs. Cos^aZs.— Two headslengths from the head 25, in 

 midbody 25, two headslengths before the vent 17. The vertebrals feebly 

 enlarged, the breadth less than the length. Ventrals .—2Q8 . Anal.—'E.ia.tive. 

 Subcaudals. — 7. The tail is mostly missing. 



Length about 22^ inches, the stump of the tail 2f inches. 



Co/owr.— Dirty buff with the following very distinct, but ill-defined, blackish 

 marks dorsally. A series of short crossbars down the back involving about 

 4 scales in the length of the snake anteriorly, 3 posteriorly, and separated 

 by intervals about one scale long (often parts of two scales ). Two series 

 of costal spots alternating with one another, and the upper alternating with 

 the vertebral bars. 



Head greyish with no postocular, occipital, or nuchal marks. Belly 

 uniform blackish. 



The anterior palatine teeth are enlarged but not very markedly so. 



It seems to resemble D. cynodon in its lepidosis more closely than the other 

 previously described species, but is very distinct in having the vertebrals 

 feebly enlarged, and the loreal in contact with the eye. 



f. wall, c.m.z.s., f.l.s., 

 Major, i.m.s. 

 Almora, ?>rd January 1914. 



No. XXXII.— REMARKS TO SHOW THAT THE SNAKE HITHERTO 



KNOWN AS ZAMEMS MUCOSUS HAS BEEN MISPLACED, AND 



SHOULD BE INCLUDED IN THE GENUS ZAOCYS. 



In my popular paper on the Dhaman (Zamenis mucosus) in this Journal 

 (Vol. XVII, p. 271), I remarked on a peculiarity in the absorption of the 

 scale rows. On examining a specimen of this snake, we find that just 

 behind the middle of the body (very rarely before) the scale rows which up 

 to this point number 17, reduce to 16 by the absorption of the vertebral 

 row into the uppermost row on the left side. Later the rows further 

 reduce to 14 or 12, by the absorption of the 3rd row above the ventrals on 

 each side. In no other snake with which I am acquainted in Asia from 

 Persia to Japan is a similar peculiarity to be seen. The scale rows in all 

 other species except those of the Genus Zaocys being in odd rows in the 

 whole bodylengthj whether the rows reduce in number or not. In the 

 Genus Zaocys however, the rows are in even numbers. The Genus is a 

 small one which comprised but six species when Mr. Boulenger's Catalogue 

 appeared (Vol. I) in 1893. I have had opportunities of examining, but three 

 of those six species, viz., Z. dhumnades from China, Z. nigromarginatus from 

 Assam and Z. tenasserimansis from Tenasserim. In all these species I 

 find the vertebral row is absorbed into the uppermost row on the left side 

 shortly behind the parietal shields, and from this point the rows are in . 

 even numbers. In other words the same remarkable absorption occurs 

 that we see in Zamenis mucosus only it is in the neck instead of about 

 midbody. In the three Zaocys referred to the scale rows further reduce to 

 14 by an absorption of the 3rd row above the ventrals. 



