1922.] F. Wall : Indian Species of Amblycephalus. 21 



Amblycephalus monticola (Cantor). 



A. monticola, Annandale, J.A.S. Beng. 1905, p. 176; Pec. Ind. Mas. 

 1912, pp. 37, ^o and 54; Fioulenger, Cat. Ill, 1896, p. d.43 ; Sclater, 

 List. S>i. Ind. Mus. 1891, p. 66; Wall, J. Bomb. N. H.S. 1908, p. 354; 

 id., ibid., 1909, p. 356; id., ibid., 1910, p. 843. 



Colour. Uniform brown of various shades dorsally, lighter in 

 the flanks. A series of narrow, blackish, vertical bars laterally, 

 most distinct in the anterior part of the body, and tending to dis- 

 appear at mid-body or posteriorly. Belly uniform paler brown to 

 sordid yellow, with darker spots or dots. Head brown above. A 

 more or less distinct narrow black bar on the neck, sending 

 forwards a branch to the supercilium, and often another between 

 the parietal shields. A narrow blackish streak from the eye to the 

 gape. 



Length. My largest specimen , a female, measured 750 mm. 

 (2 feet, 5! inches). 



Disposition. A live specimen that I acquired in Assam ap- 

 parently unscathed, proved to be a very quiet inoffensive creature, 

 that allowed itself to be handled without betraying any malice. 

 In spite of every provocation I could not induce it to assume an 

 attitude of offence, or bite any object, but it emitted the tongue 

 in a laz)' fashion. Its movements were slow, which is not sur- 

 prising in a snake that has so strongiy compressed a body. 



Food. The diet appears to consist exclusively of slugs and 

 snails. I have on some occasions in Shillong removed one or two 

 large black slugs from the stomach, which I was informed were a 

 species of Austenia. Many other specimens contained small snails, 

 some devoid of shell, others with broken shell attached, and once 

 one with a perfect shell. I have known as many as five of these 

 small snails in one specimen. 



Breeding. I have examined three gravid females, and found 

 eggs of such a size and character as to make it fairly certain that 

 this species is oviparous. As many as six eggs were found in one 

 example. The smallest specimens I have seen, apparently hatch- 

 lings, were 168 and 178 mm. (6| and 7 inches) in length, but no 

 dates of capture were available. The anal glands in both sexes 

 furnish a custard-hke secretion. 



The genitalia are different frcm those of any other snake I 

 have examined. They are slender cylindrical organs, which are 

 bifurcate about half the length of their maximum extrusion. Each 

 limb is cylindrical, and from base to apex there is no sign of any 

 of those cartilaginous processes, which are seen in snakes of the 

 families Colubridae and Viperidae. 



Lepidosis. Praefrontal touching the eye. Frontal hexa- 

 gonal in shape. Length much greater than the snout, greater than 

 its breadth, two thirds to four-fifths the parietals Supraoculars 

 length subequal to, or rather greater than the praefrontals, half to 

 three-fifths the frontal, two-fifths to half the parietals. Loreal 

 touching the eye. Praeocular wanting; replaced by the contact 

 of the loreal with the eye. Postocular one. I have seen this 



