265 



the -calls ; sides white from lips to vent ; belly black, white-Spotted ; 

 tail above and below like the back, dark, with indistinct pale lines ; 

 caudal sbicld tridentate at tbe tip. 



Hab. Ceylon (Tkwaitesi). 



We procured through Mr. Cuming two specimens of this species, 

 which were Bent home by Mr. Thwaites in 185 I. 



See also — 



1. Rhinophis Pliilippinus, Dum. & Bib. Erp. Gen. vii. 131. t. 57. 

 f. 1. 



2. R. oxyrhynchus, 1. c. 156. 



3. R. punctatus, 1. c. 157, only known from figures. 



III. Toil oblong, compressed, covered with separate three-heeled 

 scales ; tip covered villi a small compressed cap-shaped spinose 

 shield. — Plecturina. 



4. Plectrurus. 



Tail oblong, compressed, covered with separate three-keeled scales; 

 apex furnished with a small compressed cap-shaped shield, covered 

 with small spines, and ending in a central perpendicular spinose 

 keel. Nose rounded, rather produced. The central ventral series 

 of scales rather broader than the other scales, six-sided. 



1. Plkctrurus Perrotetti (fig. 3). B.M. 



Pale brown (in spirits), paler beneath, with a more or less large 

 or distinct oblong transverse yellow spot in front of the vent. 



Plectrum* Perrotetti, Dum. & Bib. Erp. Gen. vii. 167. t. 59. f. 4, 

 skull; t. 76. f. 1. 



Sab. Madras (J. C. Jerdon, Esq., 1816) ; " Neelgherries." 



Var. 1 . With series of obscure small pale spots between each 

 series of the dorsal scales. 



Var. 2. Tail with a central line of white spots on the upper side, 

 and with a row of white spots on each side near the vent, converging 

 and united in the middle of the end of the tail ; hinder part of upper 

 lip white. 



Var. 3. Scales of the tail nearly smooth ; in other specimens these 

 scales are very distinctly three-keeled. 



We have a smaller specimen of this animal, which we received 

 from the Fort Pitt Museum, as having been sent by Mr. Ford 

 from the Cape of Good Hope ; but as they had many specimens 

 from India in that Museum, I suspect this habitat is a mistake, as 

 the genua has not yet been received with certainty from Africa, and 

 it is scarcely likely that an Indian species should be also found in 

 that country. 



