SNAKES OF CEYLON. 549 



Ancisteodon hypnale* (Merrem), 



(Greek " hupnaleos " the soporific effects of poison.) 

 Merrem's Hump-nosed Viper. 



Sinhalese : " kunakatua," and " polong-telissa " (Ferguson). 

 (Not " oarawala," as stated hy Dr. Davy in his History of 

 Ceylon.) 



Synonymy. — Coluber nepa, Gophias hypnale, Trigonocephalus 

 hypnale, T. halys, T. zara, Trimesurus ceylonensis, Hypnale 

 nepa, H. affinis, Ancistrodon millardi. 



History.— First depicted by Seba in 1734 in his Thesaurus 

 (Plate XXXIII., Fig. 6) under the name " hotambceia." 

 Laurenti's description of Coluber nepa is too scanty to identify 

 the snake aUuded to with any certainty. 



General Characters. — A small snake, only growing to about 

 18 inches. The head is flat, and broadest about midway 

 between the eye and the neck. The snout is moderate in 

 length, gradually decreasing in breadth, with angular canthus, 

 and a pronounced hummock of variable length on the nose. 

 There is a loreal pit on the side of the face. The eye is 

 moderate, with a vertical pupil, and an iris speckled with 

 ruddy gold. The nostril is small, and pierces about the middle 

 of the nasal shield. The neck is Very evident. The body is 

 short and thick, and cylindrical in form. The belly is rounded. 

 The tail is short, being about one-eighth or one-ninth the total 

 length. 



Identification. — ^The scale rows 17 in midbody, together with 

 the loreal pit, will serve to distinguish this and the nest 

 species from all other species in Ceylon. From millardi it is 

 to be known by the Ventrals being 136 to 157, the supra- 

 oculars being broader than the frontal and as long as the 

 parietals. 



Colouration.' — -Very variable. The ground colour is grayish 

 or dirty white, and is heavily powdered and mottled with 

 brownish or purplish-brown of Varying degrees of intensity. 



* In previous papers I have wrongly referred to this as millardi, 

 and vice versd. I assumed that the species so common at Hakgalla 

 was the hypnale of Merrem, but I find now that I have seen Merrem's 

 description, that I wfts mistaken. 



