INDIAN SERPENTS. 
37 
No. XXXII. 
COLUBER. 
Scuta Abdominalia 170 . 
Squama Subcaudales 54 . 
Serpens Ceilonica Bitin dicta, Seba, II. t. 9 4 . 
Ulpera, Gron. Amph. JVo. XLII.p. 63 . 
Coluber Lachesis, Shaw 7j>ol. III.p. 2, 40 2 . 
Called by the natives 
The head somewhat broader than the neck, thick, oblong, contracted at the rostrum ; 
the crown flattish, and covered with small, ovate, imbricate, and carinated scales. A 
large, triangular, convex, lamina fronts the compressed rostrum, on each side of which, 
two smaller edge the nostril. Between the nostrils there is a remarkable rose-fashion 
cluster of small, smooth, orbicular, contiguous scales or laminae. The upper edge of 
the orbit is covered by an oblong thin lamina, as one more lineal does that of the 
nostril. All the rest of the scales on the head are carinated, except a few on the cheeks 
smooth, and orbicular. 
The mouth large ; the teeth in the under jaw, as well as the palatal rows above, 
remarkably slender ; and the fangs, on each side in the usual situation, were propor- 
tionally not large. 
The eyes oval, rather small. The nostrils on the side of the compressed rostrum, large, 
ringent, and near each other. 
The trunk roundish, thick, and clumsy. The tail short, round, tapering to a horny 
point, which is covered above with scales. The scales long ovate, and highly carinated, 
except a row on each side of the abdomen, smooth and orbicular. They are all strongly 
adherent on the anterior part, but towards the point loose and detached, as if capable of 
ruffling on erection. The scuta remarkably broad. 
The length four feet six inches, of which the tail measures seven inches 3 lines. 
The colour a light brown, with large sub-orbicular, chesnut-coloured spots from the 
neck to the vent. The scuta white ; bordered half way down the trunk, by distant, 
black dusky spots, three-fourths smaller than those on the back. 
