218 SNAKES OF CEYLON. 



Dentition. — From three skulls in my collection. Maxillary : 

 22 to 25; strongly coryphoclont. Palatine: 12 to 14. Ptery 

 goid : 21 to 27. Mandibular : 23 to 27. 



Distribution. — (a) General : South India.. Ceylon. 



(6) Local. — The only Indian specimen known was sent to 

 me from Trivandrum, Travancore. 



I examined five in the Colombo Museum, one from Puna- 

 galla, one from Yatiyantota, and one from Balangoda. In 

 a small local collection made just outside Galle, I found no 

 less than five examples out of fourteen snakes. Mr. Drum- 

 mond-Hay tells me it is extremely common in the Yatiyantota 

 district, below about 1,000 feet. He never obtained it Up- 

 country. 



Dendrophis caudolineolatus Gunther. 



(Latin " cauda " tail, " lineolatus " diminutive of " lineatus " 

 lined, i.e., with fine lines on the tail.) 



Gunther's Bronze-back. 



Sinhalese : " haldanda " ( vvilley) (rice stick). 



Synonymy. — ? Dendrophis gregorii, D. caudolineatus. 



History. — Described by Gunther in 1869. 



General Characters. — As detailed under the genus. The 

 tail is about one-third the total length. 



Identification. — The costals are in 13 rows, reducing poste- 

 riorly to 9. Ventrals keeled. Loreal: one. These characters 

 taken together wiil indicate the species. 



Colouration. — Uniform bronze dorsally, except for a few 

 black oblique streaks anteriorly. Tail with two black lines 

 on each side. Ventrum greenish -white. 



Habits. — Nothing known. 



Food. — Nothing known. 



Breeding. — A gravid female, 868 mm. in length (2 feet 

 10J inches long), tail 298 mm. (H| inches), is preserved in 

 the Colombo Museum. This was killed by Mr. Drummond- 

 Ha} r in May, 1903. It contains three very-elongate eggs, 

 measuring 41 by 10 mm. (If by f of an inch), with no trace 

 of an embrvo. 



