CTCLOPHIS. 875 



Family, OLIGODONTID^. 



Oligodontes. 

 Body cylindrical or slightly compressed, rather rigid. Head short, 

 blunt, sub-conical, not distinct from neck, ornamented with symmetrical 

 arrow-shaped markings. Body and tail with rounded smooth scales, in 

 15, 17, 19, or 21 rows. Sub-caudals in two rows. Nostril lateral. Eye 

 of moderate size, with round pupils. Eostral more or less enlarged, flat in 

 front, more or less produced backwards. Maxillary teeth few, the last 

 longest, not grooved. 



Oligodon, Boie. 



Rostral more or less extended backwards. Loreal occasionally absent, 

 two pairs of frontals, one prge-ocular, one or two post-oculars. Scales 

 smooth in fifteen or seventeen rows. Palatine teeth usually absent. 



Oligodon SUbgriseus, D. et B. vii. p. 59 ; Gunth. Rep. Brit. Ind. 

 p. 207 J Theob. Cat. Rep. Brit. Ind. p. 146. 



Scales in 15 rows ; loreal distinct, exceptionally united with the poste- 

 rior frontal. One pr^-ocular, two post-oculars. Upper labials seven, the 

 3rd and 4th entering the orbit. Temporals 1 -f 2. Ventral shields 180 

 (187-189)202. Sub-caudals 48-54. Head with symmetrical brown black- 

 edged markings. Back with numerous narrow, rather irregular, reti- 

 culated cross streaks, formed by the black edges of some of the scales, 

 and interrupted by three or more less distinct narrow whitish lines, 

 one of which runs along the vertebral line. Belly white, occasionally 

 a minute black dot on the lateral edge of every second or third abdo- 

 minal shields. Grows to 17 inches. 



Hab. — Sind, Punjab, N. W. Provinces, Oudh, Bengal, Anumally 

 Mountains, and southern parts of the Indian Peninsula. 



Cyclophis, Gunther. 



Form slender ; head rather distinct from neck ; shields of head 

 regular. Loreal present or confluent with nasal. One nasal shield pierced 

 by the nostril. 1-2 prse -oculars, 2 post-oculars. Scales smooth, in fifteen 

 rows. Bye of moderate size ; pupil round. 



Cyclophis frsenatus, Gunther, Gat. Colub. Snakes, B. M. p. 120 ; 

 Rep. Brit. Ind. p. 230; Theob. Gat. Rep. p. 157; Murray, Hdbk., Zool., 

 8fc., Sind, p. 261. C. monticola, Blyth {not Gunther); Blanfd. Eastern 

 Persia, p. 408. 



Head broad, scarcely distinct from neck. Rostral small, as high as 

 broad. Anterior frontals much broader than long, sub-quadrangular, 

 not quite half as large as post-frontal; vertical broad in front, with the 

 lateral margins converging behind ; superciliaries broad behind. Occi- 

 pitals longish, rounded behind. One prse-ocular, not extending to the 

 upper surface of the head, two post-oculars, one loreal, which is square. 

 Seven upper labials, 3rd and 4th forming the lower part of the orbit. 

 Temporals large, 1X2. Two pairs of elongate chin shields, the anterior 

 in contact with four labials. Scales smooth, in fifteen rows. Ventral 

 165, without keel, slightly bent up the sides. Anal bifid. Sub- 

 caudals 95. 



