440 F. Stoliczka — On Indian and Burmese Ophidians. [No. 4, 



I have received numerous adult specimens from the Eangnu and 

 Tista valleys in Sikkim and from near Pankabaree. They are all 

 uniform reddish brown above, with the skin between the scales 

 more or less blackish ; yellowish, or partially pinkish, white below. 

 The young snake is marked with numerous narrow transverse 

 dark bands, which disappear with age. 



In structure the adult snake does not differ essentially from the 

 young, except that the snout sometimes becomes a little produced, 

 and the size of the anterior frontals is fully, or somewhat more 

 than, one half of the posterior, the vertical is somewhat broader 

 anteriorly than posteriorly. The temporals vary much in size and 

 number, some specimens having only one short temporal in contact 

 with the post-oculars, followed by two longer ones ; but generally 

 there are 2+2-f 3 or 2-f-3-f3 temporals. The large size of the eye 

 and the low labials below the eye are, besides the coloration, 

 among the most prominent characters of this species. The prse-anal 

 shield is occasionally bifid in young, but in adults appears to be 

 always entire. 



There are only 6 or 7 maxillary teeth, the posterior the largest, 

 but there are besides generally 5 or 6 intermediate teeth present 

 which are not permanently fixed to the jaw, being apparently kept 

 ready to fill up vacancies, if any of the other teeth be broken off. 

 Palatine teeth are 10-12, the 1st to 3rd or 4th gradually increase in 

 size, the 3rd or 4th being the largest, the following 6 — 8 teeth are 

 small and separated from the third by a more or less wide interspace. 

 In the mandible there are 12 to 14 teeth, the anterior somewhat 

 larger than the posterior. 



I cannot agree with Dr. Anderson's suggestion (loc. cit., p. 186) 

 that Blyth's D. multifasciata is identical with the present species, 

 the former having been re-described and figured by me in Jour. 

 Asiat. Soc, Beng., vol. xxxix, p. 199, pi. xi, fig. 6. I have 

 again examined Blyth's typical specimen of multifasciata, and find 

 it to agree perfectly with my former account. A cursory inspection 

 of my figure will shew, that the eye of multifasciata is very much 

 smaller, that consequently the upper labials are more developed, 

 the pra>ocular is also much smaller and narrower, the snout 

 slightly less abruptly contracted, the vertebral series of scales 



