20 THE POISONOUS SNAKES OP INDIA. 



Identification. — The linear white arches, taken with 15 scale rows 

 and the undivided subcaudals (see fig. B) suflSce to declare its 

 identity. One important feature for those to note who in spite of 

 all precautions persist in trying to identify their specimens by 

 colour and markings instead of by conformation and relationship 

 of shields, is the fact that in all the snakes which resemble this 

 species in colour, viz., Lycodon aulicus (certain varieties) and L. 

 striatus, together with Dryocalwmus nympha, B. gracilis and D. 

 davisoni, the white cross bars are most evident in the anterior part 

 of the body, and gradually fade posteriorly till they are often lost. 

 It is characteristic of this krait, however, that the white bars are 

 most distinct posteriorly, and often fade away anteriorly — in fact, 

 the anterior one-third or one-half of the body is frequently without 

 marks in adults. 



Supplementary characters. — In the vertebral row the scales are 

 about as broad as long in the middle of the body (see fig. 7). The 

 2nd supralabial is peculiar in being as broad as the 3rd. 



Distribution. — Throughout the Indus Valley, the Ganges Valley. 

 Peninsula India, and Ceylon. Though essentially a snake of the 

 plains I have obtained it in Almora at an altitude of 6,400 feet, 

 and have other records exceeding 5,000 feet. It is very rare in 

 Ceylon.* It is the only Krait found in Peninsula India South of 

 the Ganges Basin. 



Poison. — (See Part II, p. 89). 



* There are 5 specimens of this snake in the British Museum, presented by 

 Cantor from the Malay Peninsula. I think there are good grounds to discredit the 

 accuracy of this record. It is noteworthy that six other Indian Snakes are recorded 

 from the Malay Peninsula on the sole authority of Cantor, viz., Typhlops bothrior- 

 hynchus, PolyodontopMs Sagittarius, Xenochrophis cerasogaster, Zamenis fasciolatus, 

 Helicops schistosus 3,ni Hypsirhina sieboldi. A]l of these snakes are known from 

 Bengal but not as far East as Burma. Now it is certain that Cantor received 

 snakes from Bengal because specimens of the following species are given in his name 

 from Bengal to the British Museum, viz., Folyodontophis Sagittarius, Xenochrophis 

 cerasogaster, Lycodon jara, Siud Hypsirhina enhydris. Under these circumstances 

 one cannot escape the conviction that the snakes above enumerated together with 

 5 Bungarus ccsruleus were received by him from Bengal and inadvertently mixed 

 with his Malayan collection. Further Boulenger has cast doubts on the locality 

 of a specimen of Dryophis mycterizans presented to the British Museum by 

 the same collector labelled from Assam. In support of these statements, vide 

 Boutenger's Catalogue of Snakes in the British Museum, 1893 to 1896. 



