248 W. L. Sclatei* — Notes on the Snahes in the Indian Museum. [No. 3, 



bars presented by Mr. P. A. de Roepstorff whicli seems quite identical 

 with undoubted examples of A. monticola from Assam. 



Ambltcephalus MACULARius, (Blyth ?), Boulenger, p. 416. 

 Ambltcephaltjs carinatus, (Reinw.), Gunther, Reptiles Brit. Ind., p. 326. 



A good deal of confusion in the synonymy of these snakes has been 

 caused by Mr. Theobald, who when examining and cataloguing the 

 Asiatic Society's collection of Snakes identified as the adult and young 

 of the same species certain snakes which had been referred by Blyth to 

 two different species, i. e., Aplopeltura hoa, Schleg. (Theobald's adult) 

 and Pareas macularius, Blyth (Theobald's young), 



I have been quite unable to find any published description by 

 Blyth of the latter species and so I must conclude that Pareas macular ius 

 is a manuscript name. 



These snakes which were five in number Theobald first of all (J. 

 Linn. Soc. x, p. 54), referred to Pareas macularius, the manuscript 

 name given by Blyth to the three smaller specimens only ; afterward 

 (Cat. Rept. Mus, As. Soc, p. 63) he gave a new name, Pareas herdmorei, 

 to these same five snakes, and finally (Cat. Rept, Brit. Ind., p. 203) he 

 identified them with Pareas margarito'phorus, Jan. 



On examining the five snakes in question, it was at once evident 

 that the two larger examples were quite distinct from the three smaller 

 ones in colour and disposition of the head-shields and in fact in every way. 



The larger snakes have internasals nearly as large as the prefron- 

 tals which latter shields are excluded from the eye, and in every other 

 respect resemble A. carinatus ; while the smaller snakes in which the 

 prefrontal enters the eye, agree with the description of A. macularius as 

 given in Boulenger's Reptiles. 



Pareas herdmorei is therefore only in part a synonym of Amhlyce- 

 phalus macularius as described by Boulenger, and also in part a synonym 

 of Aonhlyceplalus carinatus. 



There are in the Indian Museum only the three original specimens 

 of A. macularius, which were procured by Major Berdmore at Martaban 

 in Burma ; of the other species, A. carinatus, which is an addition to the 

 Fauna of the Indian Empire, besides the two specimens procured by Major 

 Berdmore in Tenasserim, there are two from Tavoy (Museum Collector), 

 one from the Barma-Siam hills and one from Mergui (Anderson). 



Trimekesurus graminbus, (Shaw), Boulenger, p. 429. 

 Trimbresurus purpurbomaculatus, (Gray), Boulenger, p. 429. 



Of these two species there is a very large series in the Museum ; and 

 if the insular and Malayan forms be excluded, the two species are fairly 



