1870.] Reptilia and Amphibia from Central India. 871 



as in T. brammus, there is the same number of longitudinal rows, 

 twenty, (I leave the counting of the transverse rows to any one who 

 may find the occupation congenial), and the thickness of the body 

 is evidently a very variable character. I do not think that the form 

 should be distinguished from T. hraminus. 

 Loc. S. E. Berar. 



21. Tropidonotus quinctjnciatus, S c h 1 e g. 



Var D. G- ii n t h. Cat. Col. Snakes Brit. Mus. p. 65.— ? var. 

 8. Eept. Brit. Ind. p. 261. 



T. piscator y J e r d o n, Cat. Eept. J. A. S. B., XXII, p. 530. 



I obtained two large specimens, a male and a female of this 

 common snake, from beneath a large stone in a stream. They evi- 

 dently lived in the place, and when dislodged shewed a great dis- 

 inclination to quit the water. I found them to be provided with 

 perfect nasal valvules ; they were so large and so unlike ordinary 

 specimens of T. quincunciatus in colouring that at first I mistook 

 them for Homolopsidce. 



The largest was a female measuring 51 inches in length, of 

 which the tail was 11 '5. Her colour was olive marbled with black 

 and an indistinct row of small pale yellowish spots on each side of 

 the back from the head to the anus. Ventral scales 148, subcau- 

 dals 61. The smaller was a male, 38 inches in length, of which 

 the tail was also 11*5 or the same length as that of the much 

 larger female, with 143 ventral scales and 89 subcaudals. Its 

 colour was olive without any dark marks, but with a row of well 

 marked small buff spots down the sides. In both specimens the 

 black lines from the eye to the upper labials were very ill-marked ; 

 the lower parts were white with a slight pinkish or orange tinge. 



The stomach of the female was empty, that of the male con- 

 tained small fish. In the oviducts of the former I counted 85 soft 

 partly developed eggs. 



A smaller specimen obtained afterwards at Korba, on the bank 

 of the Hasdo river, had precisely similar coloration with the 

 male specimen above described. It had 158 ventral and 81 

 subcaudal shields. 



Loc. S. E. Berar and Bilaspur. 



