' BOAFORM SNAKE. 



moderately large oblong-ovate head, covered with 

 large scales, and short, sharp-pointed tail : colour 

 of the upper parts very pale or whitish brown, va- 

 riegated on the back and sides by large and small, 

 irregularly formed, deep-brown patches and spots, 

 those on the sides being mostly ocellated : body 

 covered Avith very small scales, the three rows next 

 the abdomen being much larger than the rest : 

 abdomen white, the scuta being remarkably nar- 

 row or short, and furnished with reddish margins: 

 the under part of the tail is variegated with black 

 and white : native of India : an animal of great 

 strength, wTcathing round the arm, if held for a 

 short time, in such a manner as to numb the hand ; 

 not poisonous; its bite producing no other effect 

 than that of temporary pain. 



VAR. ? 

 Bora. Russ, Lid. Serp, pi. 39. 



This seems to be no other than the same spe- 

 cies of a much larger size : disposition' of scales 

 and colours the same, but the ground-colour 

 w^hite, and the tail furnished beneath with several 

 scuta or undivided lamellae towards the tip, or 

 after those immediately succeeding the vent; 

 while the tip itself is again terminated by a few 

 divided scales: but the number of the whole, taken 

 together, amounts to the same, within a trifle, as 

 in the first-mentioned kind. Found at Calcutta, 

 \yhere it is pretended that its bite is very soon fol- 



