On a neio Coluhrine Snake from S.E. Brazil, 227 



in an artificially heated environment such as is provided l)y 

 the cucumber-houses in which it was found. 



Bionomics. Mr. Speyer has been good enough to send the 

 following interesting note on the habits of tliis species : — 



" The species here described is in the British Isles probably 

 confined to glass-houses in which a higli temperature is main- 

 tained. It is an active species, living on the surface of soil 

 in the cucumber-houses, feeding by day as well as by night 

 on various forms of fermenting cellulose and also on living 

 plant-tissues. In winter it does not burrow in the soil to 

 any great depth^ but hides under clods of earth and in wall- 

 crevices. Many thousands of specimens have been caught 

 in pot-traps filled with straw in a single night. Outside 

 glass-houses it has not been found, except under bricks and 

 in warm places in the immediate vicinity of the houses j even 

 the temperature of tomato-houses does not ap[)ear high 

 enough to aiford sufficient heat for its existence for any 

 length of time. Mating occurs on hot mornings in May, 

 and the young, to the number of fifty, escape from the 

 brood -pouches in June. 



"This is the most destructive of all wood-lice found in 

 glass-houses, and, in addition to destroying tomato-seedlings 

 in the propagating-house, does considerable damage by 

 eating holes in the leaves of young cucumber-plants, and 

 later gnawing the stem and surface-roots of full-grown 

 plants. The species is gregarious, somewhat similar to 

 A. pic turn, Br., which is also common in cucumber-houses. 

 Further details of the habits of A. speyeri, Jackson, will 

 appear in the Annual Report of the Experimental and 

 Kesearch Station, Turner^s Hill, Chesliunt, Herts^ for 

 1922.^' 



XXII. — On a new Germs and Species of Colubrine Snake 

 from S,E. Brazil, By Joan B. Procter, I\Z.S. 



The interesting new snake described in the present paper 

 came into the possession of the British Museum in a rather 

 amusing way. A bottle of mixed specimens without data of 

 any kind was brought to me for identification in the Easter 

 holidays by a boy who is very keen on such things. The 

 bottle, amongst other things, contained specimens of the 

 S. American legless lizards Amphishcetia darivinii and Ophiudes 

 striatus ; the two small snakes proved to be puzzling and 



15^ 



