552 



BLACK-TAILED SNAKE. 



white : head ovate, twice the diameter of the 

 body, black above, and white beneath : tail above 

 a third of the whole length, very slender, and 

 sharp-pointed : native of India. Linnseus observes' 

 that it is not quite certain that it may not be a 

 snake in a young or unadvanced state. 



BLACK-TAILED SNAKE. 



Coluber Melanurus. C. fusco-Jlave&cens, capite maculisque duo- 

 bus caudalibus nigris. 



Yellowish- brown Sikake, with black head and two black spots 

 on the tail. 



Russ. Ind. Scrp. p. 12. pi. 8. 



Abdominal scuta 241, subcaudal scales 32. 



A SMALL species, of a slender habit: length 

 about ten or eleven inches ; thickness scarcely 

 that of a goose quill, and nearly of equal diameter 

 from head to the tip of the tail : colour light yel- 

 lov/ish brown, with a dotted black line running 

 from head to tail along the middle of the back ; 

 and a few fainter fillets on the sides : the head is 

 small, ovate, black, and covered with large scales : 

 the tail is very short, scarce measuring more than 

 an inch in length, and at its origin is marked, on 

 the upper part, by a large rhomboid black spot, 

 edged with white, and having a white speck in 

 the middle : the tip of the tail is also marked by 

 a similar black spot : the abdomen is of a pale 

 orange-colour, but the under part of the tail is 

 white, speckled and variegated with black. This 



