OPHIDIA. 831 



labial by a narrow isthmus in front of tbe nostril ; twenty-one rows of keeled scales. 

 Dark gamboge- green on the back, brilliant yellow- green on the sides above the 

 ventrals, pale-green on the under surface, a bright brick-red line along the upper 

 surface of the tail. The side of the head in adults, pale bluish-green. The ventrals 

 with yellow posterior margins. In a young specimen, there is a pale yellowish-green 

 line from the nostril, below the eye, to the neck ; but along the sides of the body it 

 is prolonged as a white line. A few very obscure reticulated deep-blue lines on the 

 sides of the face and chin in both young and old. 



Total length 34 inches ; tail 5"*50' ; ventrals 171' ; sub-caudals 59' ; rows of scales 21. 

 „ „ 19-50 „ „ 4"-75' „ 169' „ 74' „ 21. 



I am indebted to Professor RoUeston of Oxford for the opportunity to ex- 

 amine the type of this species which is preserved in the Museum of that Univer- 

 sity, and which he forwarded to me in London, in order that I might compare it 

 with the type of T. alholabris in the British Museum and with the specimens 

 from Upper Burma, on which these remarks are based. 



In the type, as in the latter specimens, the scales on the upper surface of the 

 head are moderately large, slightly imbricate, smooth on the vertex, but slightly keeled 

 on the temporal region and nape, and below the eye, where one row of scales inter- 

 venes between the infraocular and the labials. The superciliary, as in the speci- 

 mens from Upper Burma, is long and narrow, but only two large shields occur 

 behind the rostral. That little specific importance, however, can be attached to this 

 character, is proved by a consideration of the various accepted species of Trimeresuri, 

 for in all of them these shields, when they exist, are occasionally liable to be broken 

 up. The first labial in the type is united to the nasal, but this is also a variable charac- 

 ter, for in some individuals no such union takes place. It has also twenty-one rows of 

 feebly keeled scales, which is the prevalent number in the majority of the examples 

 of this species which have passed under my observation. The colour of the upper 

 parts is grass-green, paler on the sides, and that of the lower surface is greenish- 

 yellow. The lips are pale yellow, and there is no temporal band. The pale labial 

 band is weU developed, and the tail is brownish and transversely reticulated with 

 blackish. Stoliczka was disposed to consider that the usual number of the rows of 

 scales round the body in the adult is 23, and that the number 21 is distinctive of 

 the young. His remarks, however, seem to apply only to examples of the species 

 from Moulmein. 



Body. Tail. Ventrals. Sub-caudals. Rows of scale 



Type of T. alholabris, 18-00 inches, 2*75 153 49 21 



„ „ „ 14-75 „ 3-iO 156 59 21 



Formosa 17-40 „ 4-50 155 66 21 



15-75 „ 1*75 150 63 21 



Hong-Kong 19-50 „ 3*00 164 53 21 



Siam 12-13 „ 1-75 159 44 21 



Pachebone 24-25 „ 4-25 168 54 21 



Java 28-25 „ 4-75 160 60 21 



? India 19-25 „ S'OO 161 75 21 



Moulmein (Stoliczka), 20- „ 5-00 157 63 23 



8- „ 2'50 167 63 21 



