1847.] Malayan Peninsula and Islands. 939 



Length of the head, ft. 1 inch. 



Ditto ditto trunk, 2 Of 



Ditto ditto tail, 2f 



2 ft. 4 inch. 



Circumference of the neck : If, of the trunk : 2f, of the tail If in. 



The length of the tail is very variable : in some it is contained 3^-, in 

 other 6 times in the entire length. This species is very fierce, and 

 prepares to attack by raising the head 3 or 4 inches vertically from the 

 ground, and it has the power of flattening and laterally expanding the 

 skin of the anterior part of the body, like Naja, but in a much slighter 

 degree. It bites uttering a faint hissing sound. Frogs and fishes 

 form its food. 



Tropidonotus cerasogaster. 



Syn. — Psammophis cerasogaster, Cantor. 



Above yellowish brown with pale golden reflections ; lighter on the 

 sides, the scales of which in some partially edged with yellow ; cheeks, 

 lips, throat and abdominal surface cherry-coloured, with a bright yel- 

 low lateral line from the muzzle to the point of the tail. Iris and 

 tongue cherry-coloured. 



Scuta 144 to 149, Scutella 60 to 69. 

 Habit. — Malayan Peninsula. 

 Bengal, Assam. 



The head is elongated, depressed ; sides angular, compressed ; muz- 

 zle truncated ; rostral broad, hexagonal, nearly vertical, arched below ; 

 the anterior frontals the smallest, next to them the frontals ; the rest 

 of the crown-shields are narrow, elongated ; each occipital bordered by 

 two pairs of elongated temporals, below which three smaller. Nasals 

 rectangular, placed at a right angle with the anterior frontals ; nostrils 

 moderate, lateral ; the frenal smaller than the nasal ; prse-orbital longer 

 than either ; the eye moderate, prominent. Besides three post-orbitals, 

 there is a minute infra-orbital wedged in between the fifth and sixth 

 upper labials, of which but a small portion of the sixth touches the 

 orbit below. The lips are straight, turned up near their commissure, 

 covered with 8 or 9 pair of upper, 10 lower shields. The mouth is 

 large ; the teeth small, crowded, of equal length -The trunk is cylindri- 

 cal, compressed, covered with 19 longitudinal series of imbricate, elon- 



6 F 



