236 W. L. ^cMer— Notes on the Snakes in tie Indian Museum. [Ko. S, 



eye margin, two postoculars ; temporals 1 + 2 ; six upper labials, the 

 fourth alone entering the eye, the fifth the largest ; four lower labials in 

 contact with the anterior chin shields ; posterior chin shields small, 

 less than half the size of the anterior. Scales in 17 rows. Ventrals 

 strongly augulate, 180-6. Anal undivided. Subcaudals 57. 



Colour ; adnlt, above brick reddish with traces of a dorsal and three 

 lateral narrow lighter longitudinal lines ; below dusky reddish with 

 a light longitudinal line on either side at the angle of the ventrals ; 

 head with a dark median longitudinal mark extending back from the 

 anterior end of the frontal to the nape where it bifurcates into the ground 

 colour of the back, an oblique dark streak across the anterior nasal and 

 the three anterior labials ; a second oblique streak from the 4th and 5th 

 labials through the eye above which it bifurcates and meets its fellow 

 from the opposite side, a third oblique streak across the parietals and 

 the sides of the neck. In the young the markings are much more con- 

 spicuous, the lighter colour being yellow and contrasting strongly with 

 the darker brown of the markings. 



This species is most nearly allied to Simotes violaceus and S. octoli- 

 neatus ; from the former species it differs in the reduced number of its 

 labials, of which only the fourth enters the eye, and also in colouration. 



From 8. octolineatus it differs in having a subocular which excludes 

 the third labial from the eye and in possessing only a single antei-ior 

 temporal ; in colouration, however, especially of the young, the two 

 species much resemble one another. 



There are two examples of this species in the Indian Museum, from 

 which this description was drawn up, one from the Andamans collected 

 and presented by Mr. Wood-Mason, and one from the Nicobars where it 

 was procured by the late Mr. F. A. de Roepstorff. 



Simotes theobaldi, Giinth., Boulenger, p. 318, 



The Indian Museum contains four examples of this rather uncom- 

 mon species, from Mandalay (Anderson), from Meiktalla (Collett), and 

 from Mergui. 



Simotes pianiceps, Boulenger, p. 316. 



An example of this snake was procured by Dr. Anderson during one 

 of his two expeditions to Yunnan and Upper Burma, which had ap- 

 parently never been named or described ; unfortunately the specimen 

 is without locality, though it no doubt comes from Upper Burma; 

 the species has hitherto been known from a single specimen only, 

 procured by Fea at Minhla in Burma. 



