200 THE HABITS OF MALAY REPTILES. 
throat. I caughta fine one on Gunong Keledang in Perak, 
among thick fern. The other form is almost black with a few 
yellow marks, about its head. One was brought me by a small 
Malay boy from Tanglin village, where he declared it had been 
killing the fowls. 
Zaocys carinata is a large harmless snake, of which I caught 
a very fine specimen, about eight feet long, after a considerable 
chase. It was almost completely black, but there are also light- 
coloured varieties. It moves very rapidly, and I could hardly 
keep up with it though I was running on the path and it was 
gliding through the scrub. The Malays called it Ular Tedong, 
but this name is applied apparently to a variety of snakes. 
The green tree-snake, Dryophis prasinus, the Ular Daun 
of the Malays, is another of our very common snakes. Usually 
of a bright apple-green, with its long slender whip, like body 
and its pointed snout, it is easily recognised. It is readily 
tamed, though when fresh caught it is apt to be snappish. There 
are two or three colour varieties, the commonest of which next 
to the green one is light brown, but I have also seen a form 
banded alternately grey and white. It feeds chiefly I believe 
on frogs and lizards. I found one on an occasion trying to 
swallow a Calotes in spite of the thorny spikes on its back. The 
Malays say that if you take the fat of this snake and make a 
lamp with it and a floating wick, on lighting this in the evening, 
the whole room or house becomes full of these green snakes, and 
this diversion is sometimes employed on festal occasions. My 
informant told me that he had seen this done with perfect success. 
No less than thirty-one poisonous snakes are recorded from 
the Peninsula, but nearly half of these are sea snakes. Very 
little is known as to the habits of these latter. They are gener- 
ally taken out of the fishing stakes, where they doubtless go in 
pursuit of the fish, on which they live. 
Bungarus fasciatus has already been alluded to. Itis a 
fairly large powerful snake, of a black colour with yellow bands. 
It is almost always found near the sea, in tidal waters. In cap- 
tivity it is vicious and ill-tempered, striking about freely and 
furiously rattling its tail. 
The Cobra is well-known to residents, being quite a common 
garden snake, The specimens met with in the south of the 
