196 
SNAKES. 
The distinctive features of the genus are the presence of two teeth in the anterior 
upper jawbones, or premaxillse, and the eye being situated in the middle of an 
ocular shield. The colour is a splendid coral-red, ornamented with black rings, or 
incomplete ring-like black bands. From the little that is known concerning its 
habits, it appears that this snake is sluggish in its movements, and never wanders 
far from its retreat, which is situated under the roots of a tree or in a hole or cleft 
in the ground. It feeds on insects and blind-snakes, and produces living young. 
The true cylinder-snakes, as typically represented by the red 
snake (Cylindrophis rufus), differ from the preceding by the absence 
of teeth in the anterior upper jawbones, and likewise by the eye not being 
included in any of the head-shields. This genus has three representatives, and is 
distributed over Ceylon and South-Eastern Asia to the eastwards of the Bay of 
CORAL CYLINDER-SNAKE nat. size). 
Bengal; the common red snake ranging from Burma and Cochin-China to the 
Malayan region. This snake, which attains a length of about 2 b feet, is either brown 
or black above, with or without light alternating crossbars ; the under-parts being 
either white with black transverse bars or spots, or black with white bands; while 
the under surface of the tail is of a brilliant vermilion hue. All the snakes of 
this genus are burrowing reptiles, seldom showing themselves above the surface of 
the ground, and feeding on insects, worms, and the smaller mammals. In common 
with their allies, they have the body covered with polished, rounded scales, which 
(m conformity with their burrowing habits) are scarcely larger on the upper 
than on the lower aspect, although becoming wider on the inferior surface of 
the tail. 
The third genus of the group ( Anomalochilus ), represented by a single species 
from Sumatra, differs from the preceding in the absence of a groove on the chin. 
