148 SNAKES OF CEYLON. 



count. To prevent this open the mouth and count to the «nd 

 of the gape. I have purposely avoided reference to these 

 shields in the above features of identification. 



Colouration. — Dorsally lustrous dark brown or black, with 

 from 11 to 18 white or yellow crossbars on the body. These 

 bars are more distant anteriorly, and expand in the flanks to 

 include deltoid islets of the ground colour. They are more 

 broken, and less regular on the tail. The head is dark brown 

 or black, except the upper lip, which is white. The belly is 

 pearly -white and unspotted. In Ceylon specimens the ground 

 colour is dark brown, and the crossbars are frequent^ sullied 

 with pale brownish. 



Habits. — (a) Haunts : 1 have known this snake in the house, 

 like its commoner ally aulicus. One in Fyzabad came into 

 the Cantonment Hospital, and another was encountered in the 

 Officers' Mess of the 85th K. S.L.I. Three or four were un- 

 earthed at different times during digging operations. It hides 

 during the daytime in holes in the ground, heaps of debris, 

 crevices of brickwork, stacks of wood, or road metal, &c. 



(6) Disposition : All the specimens I have seen alive 

 exhibited a very timid disposition. I never knew one strike, 

 no matter what the provocation. Usually it made no en- 

 deavour to escape, but coiled itself, and, if touched or teased, 

 hid its head beneath its coils, looking out cautiously from time 

 to time to see if the danger apprehended had disappeared. It 

 sometimes flattens itself to the ground in a remarkable way. 



(c) Nocturnal or Diurnal: Like the common woHsnake, it 

 is decidedly nocturnal. I met with two at different times at 

 night, on the road between the mess and my house at Berham- 

 pore (Orissa), and on both occasions there was no endeavour 

 to retire from the situation, no attempt at menace. Except 

 the specimens encountered while digging, nearly all were killed 

 at night. 



(d) Progression: I have never seen one actually moving. 

 It does not seem to indulge in the clambering efforts of its 

 closely allied relative aulicus. 



Food. — The few that have come into my hands that had 

 recently fed contained skinks of the Genus Mahuia. One of 

 Mr. Green's examples had swallowed a skink {Mahuia carinata). 



