198 Indian and Malayan Amphibia and Reptilia. [No. 3, 



Fam. Dipsasidje. 



57. Dipsas hexagonotus, B 1 y t h, PI. XI, Fig. 4. 

 Idem, B 1 y t h, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, XXIV", p. 360; G ii n t h e r, 

 1. cit. p. 311. 



Body slender, laterally very much compressed, tail roundish ; scales 

 smooth, in from 17-21 series (according to age,) those of the ver- 

 tebral series hexagonal and conspicuously enlarged, ventrals 250-270, 

 anal bifid, subcaudals 120-140. Head very large as compared with 

 the slender body, moderately convex above ; rostral broader than 

 high, scarcely reaching to the top of the head ; anterior frontals half 

 the size of the posterior, obtusely rounded in front, vertical moder- 

 ate, pentagonal, with concave sides, broader posteriorly than ante- 

 riorly, the hinder sides forming a rectangle ; supraciliaries large, as 

 long as the vertical and each as broad as the latter near its poste- 

 rior end ; occipitals large irregularly pentagonal, the lateral front 

 angle of each just touching the upper postocular. Nostril rather 

 large between two nasals, loreal squarish, narrower above and 

 somewhat higher than long ; one large preocular, reaching to the 

 top of the head, but not extending to the vertical ; eye very large 

 and prominent ; two subequal postoculars, the lower a little smaller 

 than the upper. Upper labials 8, low, third, fourth and fifth enter 

 the orbit ; temporals small usually 3 -f 3 + 3 or 4, sometimes 2 -f- 

 3+4, occasionally with small portions detached from various 

 shields ; very often there are two pairs of moderately enlarged 

 shields behind the occipitals. Lower labials 10-11, the first pair 

 forms a suture, the 7th-9th are the largest ; two pairs of enlarged 

 chin shields, the first is the larger and forms a suture, the shields 

 of the second pair are diverging and usually separated by a few 

 smaller shields. 



General colour a beautiful coral red, above and below, head with 

 a greenish smaragdine tinge above, a small black spot on each of 

 the occipitals appears constant, some have a similar black dot on 

 the vertical, or a short median streak on the anterior half of it ; 

 again others have a short lateral streak on each of the occipitals ; on 

 the upper labials and below white ; body above marked with very 

 numerous transverse blackish slightly undulating bands, separated 

 by equally broad interspaces and laterally extending down to the 

 ventral shields. 



