SNAKES OF CEYLON. 561 



side of the spine, specially conspicuous in the young. Some 

 are very heavily variegated, others very lightly, and others 

 again are a uniform green. The top of the head is marked 

 like the back. There is a conspicuous dark stripe from the 

 eye to the gape. The end of the tail is blackish. The belly 

 is greenish, the edges of each ventral lighter green or yellowish. 

 Beneath the tail blackish mottlings intensify towards its tip. 



Habits. — (a) Haunts : It is completely arboreal, and harmo- 

 nizes so well with its foliaceous environment that it usually 

 escapes detection until it moves. It is not inlrequently met 

 with in the coffee and tea bushes by estate coolies. 



(b) Disposition : Appears to be phlegmatic, and not easily 

 roused to anger. 



(c) Striking Posture : It usually lies prone along a branch, 

 with its tail and part of the hind body wreathed round its 

 support. The head and forebody are raised and retracted, 

 and then straightened to their full limits as the snake darts 

 at its object. The tail is specially adapted for maintaining 

 a grip, so that the snake does not fall, however vehement its 

 thrust. A very considerable part of the body is freed when 

 striking. The stroke is not very rapid, and could, I think be 

 avoided if one was aware that it was impending. After the 

 stroke, the body is again retracted in sinuous curves, often in 

 a very leisurely fashion. 



(d Nocturnal or Diurnal : Abercromby says it is nocturnal in 

 habit, but it appears to be sufficiently alert by day, to await 

 and profit by the advent of any unsuspicious quarry that comes 

 within striking distance. 



(e) Hissing : When roused and before striking it hisses 

 audibly. 



(/) Sloughing : Mr. Green tells me that a slough cast in his 

 vivarium bore clear indications of the black variegation with 

 which it was adorned. 



Food. — Mr. Green found his caged specimens accepted 

 lizards of the Genus Galotes and the Family Geckonidds. I 

 have found hair in the stomach and cloaca, and Gunther says 

 he has removed tree-frogs and mice from the stomach. 



