690 MU. STANLEY S. FLOWER OX THE [May 16, 



poisonous snakes, is fortunately of very rare occurrence in the 

 Malay Peninsula. Cantor obtained a specimen 857 mm. in length 

 "killed by Captain Congalton near Keddah." On the 1st June, 

 1S98, I obtaijied a specimen near Alor Star, Kedab, 775 mm. in 

 length. Imagining it to be the harmless snake Lycodon subcinctus, 

 I carried it in my hand upstairs to keep in my room, but fortunatety 

 noticed it was a Krait and killed it before it had bitten anyone. 

 A few days later a servant came upstairs and placed on the table 

 a snake he had come across in the garden and thought I might 

 like : it was a live Cobra {Naia tripuclians) ; in this case also 

 luckily the snake had not bitten anyone. 



Description (notes on). Alor Star specimen mentioned above : 

 temporals 1 + 2; three lower labials in contact with the anterior 

 chin-shields, which are larger than the posterior. Scales in 15 rows. 

 Ventrals 220. Anal ? Subcaudals single, 40 (tip broken), except 

 the 24th and 2oth, which are double. 



Colour (in hfe). Above purplish black, with 28 double white 

 cross-bands. Skin between scales whitish. Lips, chin, throat, 

 and underneath of body pale yellow, immaculate. Underneath of 

 tail purplish brown, with irregular pale yellow cross-bars. 



Eah. India, Burma, Southern China, Tormosa, Hainan, Indo- 

 China, Lower Siam (Malay Penmsula), Java, Celebes. 



203. BuNGARTis TLAViCEPS Eeinli. 



Bungarus flaviceps, Blgr. Cat. Snakes, iii. p. 371 ; S. Flower, 

 P. Z. S. 1896, p. 894. 



Hah. Tenasserim, Cochinchina, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, 

 Nias, Java, and Borneo. 



204. Naia TBiPUDiAifs Merr. 



Naia tripudiaiis, Blgr. Cat. Snakes, iii. p. 380 (skull fig .p. 372) ; 

 S. Flower, P. Z. S. 1896, p. 894. 



Siamese. " Ngu how." 



" Toodong sla " of the Malays of Kedah. 



" Ular mata-ari " of the Malays, according to Cantor. LTlar= 

 snake; mata-ari = sun (ht. eye of the day). 



Localities. The Cobra is apparently not so numerous in the 

 Malay Peninsula as in parts of India and in Siam ; the British 

 Museum Catalogue records var. A.« from Penang, var. Q.h from 

 Siam and Kedah, and var. D from Penang and Singapore. Mr. 

 Van Sommeren's collection contains a Cobra from Kuala Lumpor, 

 Selangor, and three caught on Penang Hill ; these are of small size, 

 hght brown in colour, and have no marks on the hood. I obtained 

 a Cobra, in lalang grass, near Taiping, Perak, which does not agree 

 with any of the described varieties. One caught near Alor 

 Star, Kedah, belongs to var. C 6, as do also nine individuals ob- 

 served by me from the neighbourhood of Bangkok, where Cobras 

 frequently attain a large size, as the following table shows, 



