106 SNAKES OF CEYLON. 



nostril is open and occupies about two-fifths of the depth of 

 the suture between the nasal shields, leaving about one -fifth 

 of the suture uninvolved above and about two-fifths below. 

 The tongue is a dull orange colour at the base and has black tips. 



Identification. — The costals in 19 rows two heads-lengths 

 behind the head, 19 at midbody, and 17 two heads-lengths 

 before the vent, two internasals, and seven or eight supra- 

 labials will distinguish a normal specimen from all other 

 Ceylon snakes. 



Colouration. — The ground colour is olivaceous-brown of 

 various depths of intensity, some specimens being dark, 

 others light. A buff stripe beginning in the neck or forebody, 

 at first obscure, but becoming well-defined and conspicuous, 

 passes down each side of the back to the tail tip. These 

 involve one whole and two half rows of scales and are sepa- 

 rated from one another by five whole and two half rows. The 

 ground colour is further ornamented with black or blackish, 

 somewhat irregular crossbars, which are always most obvious 

 anteriorly and often wholly disappear before the vent. The 

 head is olivaceous-brown, fading laterally to pearly-whitish, 

 yellow, or orange on the lips. There is, I think, always a 

 blackish vertical short loreal streak, and generally some of the 

 last supralabials are margined posteriorly with black. The 

 chin is whitish, and the throat pearly-white, pale, or bright 

 yellow, or orange, these vivid hues being seen alike in some 

 specimens of both the blue and red varieties. The belly is 

 pearly-whitish, with generally some roundish, scattered, 

 small, lateral black spots, chiefly anteriorly. Often an ill- 

 defined pinkish or lilac suffusion is to be seen at the edge of the 

 ventral shields. When desquamation is impending much of 

 the beautiful colouring may be obscured, but when once the 

 little snake has divested itself of its old and seedy-looking 

 raiment, it is just the little dandy that its specific name 

 implies. 



(a) Variety typica : In this the overlapped margins of the 

 scales, especially towards their bases, are adorned with blue- 

 gray or pale blue, often of a shade almost identical with that 

 very beautiful flower Plumbago capensis. This ornamentation 

 is concealed by the imbrication of the scales when the snake is 



