36 
DESCRIPTION OF 
No. XXXI. 
COLUBER. 
Abdominal Scuta 181 
Sub-caudal Squama 1 30 
Called by the natives Goobra. 
The head broader than the neck, ovate, depressed, covered with nine laminae: the pair 
between the nostrils, oblong, truncate; the next pair, larger, roundish; the central lamina, 
between the eyes, very narrow, shield-form, acuminate, the lateral, sub-conical; the posterior 
pair, sub-conical, obverted, truncate, with four smaller, oblong, laminae, on each side. The 
hind head covered with small, orbicular, scales. 
The mouth , large; the upper jaw a little longer than the under. The teeth small, reflex; 
two palatal rows, and one marginal, in the upper jaw. 
The eyes large, and oval. The nostrils large, open. 
The trunk covered with small linear-oval scales; but the middle of the back is somewhat 
depressed, and the scales covering it are ob-ovate: on the sides of the scuta, there are two 
rows of oval scales. 
The length , three feet two inches; the circumference, about one inch and a quarter. The 
tail very slender, particularly towards its sharp point; length, one foot and half an inch. 
The colour of the head and trunk, a very dark brownish ; but the scales on the middle of 
the back, of a somewhat lighter brown; towards the scuta, the abdominal, oval, scales, are 
whitish, spotted with black, nearly to the middle of the trunk; on the remainder of the 
trunk, these scales are of the same cineritious colour with the scuta. 
OBSERVATIONS. 
The skin, with a sketch of the head, 8cc. of this snake, was sent by Mr. Alexander Rus¬ 
sell, from Hyderabad, in the summer of 1 7 88. It is said to grow to a much larger size, and 
chiefly to frequent trees. It had been killed on a tree in the Ambassador’s garden. 
The drawing having been coloured, partly from verbal description, and partly from the 
dried skin, it is suspected that the colour of the living snake is very imperfectly represented ; 
for on a minute examination of the dark-brown scales on the sides, many of them were found 
tipped black above, and with a beautiful azure blue below. 
