Vol. 1, No.8.) . Oriental Snakes in the Indian Museum. 209 
[N. S.] 
second labial, not reaching the uppersurface of the head. Supra- 
oculars large, frontal and parietal feebly developed. A procular; 
no subocular ; the former larger than the ocular, in contact with the 
second and third labials ; eye barely distinguishable. Twenty-six 
scales round body. Coloration —Upper surface olive-brown, each 
scale paler at the edge; upper head scales broadly edged with 
yellow, a yellow [jon the snout and a wedge-shaped mark of the 
same colour behind each eye; lower half of the rostral and labials 
and the whole of the lower surface, yellow. 
Total Length.—280 mm. 
__A single specimen from the Malay Archipelago, probably 
from Java. 
TYPHLOPS ACUTUS. 
This species appears to be commoner than any other in Cal- 
eutta. It is sometimes found in native houses. I have lately had 
~an opportunity of observing living specimens. When placed in a 
vessel with earth at the bottom they burrowed very rapidly, pro- 
vided that the earth was not too hard, forcing their way down by 
~muscular action of the anterior part of the body and making a 
passage no broader than their own diameter. I failed to see them 
feed, but have reason to think that they eat the earthworms with 
which they were supplied, at night. When taken in the hand they 
coiled round one of the fingers and pressed the tip or side of their 
hooked and pointed snout against the skin. They could do no in- 
jury in this way to the human skin, but seemed rather to be at- 
tempting to get a grip. Probably this peculiar modification may 
be useful in restraining captured worms and it 1s worthy of note 
that the caudal spine present in a larger number of the Typhlopide 
is absent both in this form and in several exotic species in which a 
beak is developed. 
GLAUCONIIDA. 
GLAUCONIA BLANFORDII. 
G. blanfordii, Alcock and Finn, J.A.S.B., 1896, (2), p. 561. 
In addition to the specimens recorded by Messrs. Alcock and 
Finn, we have received during the last few years others from 
Quetta (Majer G. C. Nurse); Khotri, Sind (Bombay Nat. Hist. 
Soc.), and Bushire, Persia (Karachi Mus.). The relative diameter 
of the body varies considerably, but the number of the scales round 
it appears to be constant. Well preserved specimens have the 
upper scales feebly edged with pale-brown, 
COLUBRID Ai. 
CALAMARIA LEUCOCEPHALA.* 
Two specimens from the Malay Archipelago, one from Java. 
