A NEW SNAKE FROM THE NORTHERN FRONTIER 



OF ASSAM. 



By Colonel F. Wall, C.M.G., IMS. 

 Oligodon melanozonatus, sp. nov. 



O. erythrorliachis, Annandale, Rec. Ivd. Mtts. VIII, 1912, p. 48. 



Type, No. 16799 >' co-type, No. 16798. Both in the Indian 

 Museum. 



Length 513 mm. (r foot, 8J inches). Tail 83 mm. (3I inches). 



Lepidosis. Rostral touching six shields, the rostro-nasal 

 shorter than the rostro-internasal sutures. Portion visible above 

 three-fifths to three- fourths its distance from the frontal, one-third 

 to two-fifths the length of the frontal. Internasals : a pair. The 

 suture between them equal to that between the praerontal fellows, 

 about half the internaso-praefrontals. Frontal : length greater 

 than the snout, equal to the parietals. Supraoculars : length about 

 equal to its distance to mid-internasals, two-thirds the frontal, 

 three-seconds the temporal ; breadth two-fifths the frontal. Nasal 

 entire. Loreal absent. Praeocular : one. Postoculars : two. 

 Temporal 1 -f- 2 . Supralabiais 6.' The 1st and 2nd touching 

 the nasal, the 2nd the praefrontal, the 3rd and 4th the eye, and the 

 5th the temporal. Posterior sublinguals shorter than the anterior 

 pair; touching the 4th infralabial. Injralabials 4; the 4th 

 largest, longer and broader than the posterior sublinguals, and 

 touching two scales behind. Costals two heads-lengths behind 

 the head 17, midbody 17, two heads-lengths before the vent 15. 

 Ventrals 171 to 173. Anal divided. Subcaudals 42 to 45, divided. 



Colour. Dorsally light brown, obscurely mottled with black- 

 ish. Twenty rather ill- defined black bars cross the body to end 

 low in the flanks, and four such bars cross the tail. In the smaller 

 and half-grown specimen these bars are as light centrally as the 

 dorsal brown, and are edged anteriorly and posteriori)- with black 

 as in albocinctus. A whitish, black-edged sagitta on the nape, 

 the point directed forwards. Just before this is a black-edged, 

 light brown sagitta with the point on the middle of the frontal 

 shield. An obscure, blackish, praefronto-frontal bar, reappearing 

 below the eye. Belly white with transverse, black, irregularly- 

 disposed cross-bars, many as broad as the ventral shields. Similar 

 marks beneath the tail. 



' These shields in the larger specimen are as shown in figure h on both sides, 

 but in the smaller specimen as shown in figure c on the left side only, a 6th labial 

 being wedged between the 5th and 7th. 



