1870.] Indian and Malayan Amphibia and Reptilia. 195 



As regards the habits of this snake, there seems to me to be 

 a great deal of truth in Cantor' s statement, that it is more fre- 

 quently found on the ground between grass than on trees. I have 

 myself caught on the Penang hill several specimens, all in grass or 

 between low bushes along the edge of the foot path. Only once I 

 saw a specimen on a bush, though not high up, but there can be 

 little doubt that the snake makes also ample use of its eminent 

 adaptness for movements on the trees. It is remarkable that this 

 species seems to feed almost exclusively upon species of GECKOTiDiE, 

 six specimens that I have examined at Penang all had parts of 

 them in their stomach. 



54. Chrysopelea rubescens, Gray, (Gr u n t h., loc. cit. p. 299). 



I obtained a single specimen on Penang hill ; it appears to be 

 rare. It has 1 5 rows of scales on which the apical grooves are 

 scarcely traceable. The shields of the head are normal, the vertical 

 remarkably narrow, the posterior two-thirds of its length with con- 

 cave sides ; the occipitals are large and with narrow obtuse ends 

 posteriorly. 



The ground colour of the snake is a pale ashy grey, all over very 

 minutely checkered with brown and white ; some of the scales of 

 the vertebral series have larger brown blotches, forming on the 

 posterior half of the body an interrupted vertebral series ; the 

 posterior part of the head and neck are distinctly rufous brown. 

 A pale streak runs along the median suture of the two pairs 

 of frontals, another whitish streak runs from behind the eye poste- 

 l riorly, bounded above and below with a brownish streak, a longi- 

 tudinal brown streak occupies the middle of the neck ; the rest of 

 the head above is checkered and marbled with minute white dots 

 and brown streaks ; the upper labials are white, partially marked 

 with brown dots ; the lower parts of the head also white with minute 

 brown specks. The throat is in the live snake of a beautiful yellow, 

 this colour fading gradually until in about one-third the anterior 

 length of the body it has changed to greyish brown ; the parts below 

 have a more distinct brown tinge than above, where it is more 

 grey. Total length 28f , of which the tail is 8£ inches ; ventrals 

 196, anal bifid, subcaudals 136 pairs. 



