658 ME. STANLEY S. FLOWER ON THE [May 16, 



Pamily CoLUBBLD^i 



Series: Aglypha. 



Subfamily AcEOOHOEDiNJi'. 



102. AcEOCHOEDUs JATANicus Hornstedt. 



Acrocliordus javanicus, Cantor, p. 58 ; Blgr. Cat. Snakes, i. 

 p. 173. 



Siamese. " Ngu chai'Dg-naam " =" water-elephant snake." 

 Malay. " Ular karoDg"= sack snake ] 



„ " Ular sapi "= 0%. sijake I (apud Cantor). 



„ " Ular lemba"= cattle snake J 



Cantor mentions this species from Penang Hill and Singapore. 

 In June 1898, Mr. A. L. Butler showed me a live specimen that 

 had been caught in a fish-trap in fresh water near Kuala Lumpor, 

 Selangor; it was 1778 mm. in length and had about 152 rows of 

 '.scales (counted by Mr, Butler). The Baffles Museum contains a 

 'specimen from Pahang (E. Hanitsch, Sep. Baffles Libr. & Mas. 

 '1897, p. 9). It does not seem to have been previously recorded 

 from Siam, but it is found in the neighbourhood of Bangkok, and 

 is valued for its skin, which is used for making the drum-heads of 

 native drums. The largest specimen I obtained was from Sapatoom, 

 and measured 1830 mm. (6 feet) in total length. 



This snake, when alive and fresh caught, is of immense, girth 

 and very powerful, twisting round one's arms with a grasp like 

 that of a python. It seems to be purely aquatic (though Cantor 

 records an exception), frequenting canals and ditches. On land as 

 a rule it is very sluggish, but when aroused will strike suddenly 

 with great force, and can inflict an unpleasant bite, as its teeth are 

 apt to break off in the wound. 



I tried keeping two in a tank with some freshwater tortoises, 

 Cyclemys platynota. The snakes did them no harm, but the tortoises 

 .(although they had lived peacefully with other aquatic snakes, 

 Homulopsis Jwccato and species of T}•op^c?oJ^oi^f*), for some unknown 

 reason, attacked the Acrochordi and repeatedly bit them about the 

 head, so that they had to be separated. > , 



Hah. Siam, Malay Peninsula, Java, New Gruinea. , 



103, Cheestdeus geanulatus (Schneid.). 



Acrocliordus gramdatus, Cantor, p. 59. 



C7«ers?/f?rMS (/rrtim^a^us, Blgr. Cat. Snakes, i. p. 174. 



Malay. " Ular limpa" = liver-coloured snake {apud Cantor)., 



Calitor also gives " Ular laut " as a Malay name for this species, 

 but every; snake which is found in the sea is called " ulai,' laut," 

 iy e. gea-snake. ■. , , i ' S ' 



Eecorded from Penang (Cantor) and from SingapQie;(Brit.,Mus. 

 Cat.). Mr. Bidley informs me this autumn (1898) a '_' Chersydrus 

 granulatus was picked up in the road by the BotarJical Gardens, 



