SNAKES OF CEYLON. 209 



the tail, the lateral ceases at the vent and the former alternate 

 with the latter. Belly nearly uniform brown, but seen closely 

 the Ventrals are rather darker basally. Head brown with a 

 yellow dark-edged bar on the occiput, proceeding to the gape, 

 and a yellow spot behind the eye. 



Habits. — Nothing known. 



Food. — Nothing known. 



Breeding. — Nothing known. 



Growth. — Grows to 150 mm. (5f inches). Tail 20 mm. 

 (f of an inch). 



Lepidosis. — Prefrontal : Touches the 2nd and 3rd supra- 

 labials, prseocular, eye, and supraocular. Supraoculars : 

 About three -fourths the length of the frontal, and less than 

 half the parietals. Parietals : Touch one postocular. Prse- 

 ocular : Present. Temporal : Longer than the supraocular. 



Costals : In 17 rows in the whole body length. Ventrals : 

 101 to 127. Subcaudals : 19 to 27. 



Dentition. — I have no skull. 



Distribution. — (a) General : Peculiar to Ceylon. 



(b) Local: The types are from the coast of the Western 

 Province. Ferguson gave 12 to the British Museum and 7 

 to the Colombo Museum. Mr. Drummond-Hay tells me he 

 found it a common species on the upper elevations of Hope- 

 well, Balangoda district (about 4,000 feet). It is obviously 

 a fairJv common snake but local. 



ASPIDURA TRACHYPROCTA Cope. 



The Common Roughside. 



(Greek " trachus " rough, and " proctos " tail in allusion to 

 the keels on the scales in the anal region of the male.) 



Synonymy. — Aspidura brachyorrhos, A. scytale. 



History. — Described by Cope in 1860. 



General Characters. — As detailed for the genus. The snout 

 is rather narrowly obtuse terminally. The tail accounts for 

 about one-twelfth the total length. 



Identification. — The costals in 15 rows, and the presence of 

 a prseocular will indicate the species. 



32 6(6)2Q 



