210 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HLST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXIII. 



Mr. Green's work is excellent. Many specimens, perhaps most, are 

 a brighter shade of ruddy or copper than shown by him. 



ZAMENIS BIAVmiA (Schlegel). 

 The Eoyal Snake. 



History. — Like most of our common Indian snakes this species is 

 first referred to by Russell. He gave an excellent figure of it in his 

 Second Volume published in 1801 taken from the larger of two 

 specimens collected at Buchier (Bushire?). Geoffrey in his book 

 on Egyptian snakes appears to be the next to describe and figure 

 it in 1809. Since this most herpetologists treating of Asian snakes 

 have referred to it under various titles. In 1858 Giinther placed 

 it in the genus Zcimeoiis, and it has remained there since, but I 

 think it is more than likely that it will sooner or later be removed, 

 •as it differs in many ways from the type of that genus. 



Nomenclature — (a) Scientific. — The specific name given by Schlegel 

 in 1837 refers to the quoit-like mark on the head of some speci- 

 mens. 



(6) English. — The Royal Snake seems to me fitting equivalent 

 to the scientific title. 



(c) Vernacular. — Russell gives " chunalee " as the native name 

 in Persia (if I am correct in assuming that Buchier = Bushire). 

 In Rajputana (Jodhpore) Mr. Golan tells me it is called " rajit- 

 bansar " or " rajitbansi." 



General characters. — The head is a longish oval, well demarcated 

 from the neck. The snout is rather long and moderately obtuse. 

 A largish nostril occupies the upper two-thirds of the suture 

 between the nasal shields. The eye is rather small, its pupil 

 round, and the iris golden, especially towards the pupil. The gold 

 is often tinged brownish, or reddish. The body is compressed, 

 rather stout, and clumsy, and attenuates very noticeably into the 

 neck, and more gradually towards the tail. The belly is slightly 

 angulated each side. The tail is longish, and accounts for rather 

 more than one-fifth, but less than one-fourth the total length. 



Colouration. — All the young I have seen and from various 

 localities including the Punjab, the N. W. Frontier, Ohitral, 

 and Baluchistan conform to one type. They are of a light brown 

 or fawn colour, with three sets of largish, dark dorsal spots. The 

 median may be rounded or rhomboidal in outline, or form short 

 transverse bars and pass down the back from the nape well on to the 

 tail. These marks alternate with the smaller spots of the lateral 

 series. The head is light brown variously spotted, or mottled with 

 darker marks. There is often a band between the eyes, and a 

 qiioit-like mark on the parietals (hence the name diadema). The 

 latter may be connected with the former by a median stripe, or 

 remain quite detached, or throw back from one to three short 



