TIUTTV 
CROTALIDAG. 
seum. T. monticola is a true hill form of the Central and Eastern 
Himalaya, and the Khasya and Cachar Hills, and Anderson 
got it from Yunan.* It evidently goes into the Indo-Chinese 
fauna.” 
Trimeresurus gramineus. 
Yipera viridis, Baud. Bept. 
„ gramineus, Cantor. 
Trimesurus viridis, Gray. 
„ elegans, Gray. 
Coluber gramineus, Shaw. 
Trimeresurus gramineus, Gunther. 
There are several specimens in the Indian Museum, and one 
before me, 18J- inches in length and in girth, of which the 
tail measures 2f inches, came from Assam. 
In this snake the upper labial shield forms the front part of 
the loreal pit. There is an azygos shield between the supra- 
nasals, sometimes two small shields take its place. 
It has from nineteen to twenty-one series of carinated scales. 
Yentrals 158-170; suh-caudals 58-71. The scales on the 
head are small and smooth, or indistinctly keeled. The 
colour is like that of T. carinatus, lighter on the sides and 
belly; the tail is sometimes red ; a yellowish or brick-red line 
runs along the outer series of scales. 
It is common in Assam and the Khasya Hills. Dr. 
Stoliczka says he has never observed it in the interior of the 
N. W. Himalaya, though he has often found T. carinatus in 
those localities. Dr. Stoliczka is doubtful of its being found in 
Ladak Proper, where, according to GKinther, it is met with, as 
the climate is too cold and the height too great. 
He says ( Journal Asiatic Society , part ii., Ho. 3 of 1870, 
page 216) :—“It would be interesting to know which part of 
the country is alluded to (by Gunther), for Ladak Proper has 
scarcely any arboreal vegetation, except a few jmplars and 
willows in the Indus Valley. I passed three times through 
Ladak (I mean the Upper Indus Valley about Leh, and the 
elevated country on both sides of it), but I never saw a single 
snake; and the existence of a Trimeresurus is of all the most 
improbable in a country situated above 10,000 feet, and sub¬ 
ject to the most rigidly cold climate, so that hardly any arboreal 
vegetation can thrive.” 
T. gramineus is smaller than T. carinatus. Gunther says it 
attains to 32 inches, whilst he gives T. carinatus 37. The 
specimen of T. gramineus in the Indian Museum, from Assam, 
is a small one. 
This snake is described and figured by Dr. Russell, in his 
great work on Indian Serpents, as “ Bodroo Pam,” plate 9, 
vol. i. 
Trimeresurus erythrurus. 
Trigonocephalus erythrurus, Cantor. 
Trimesurus albolabris, Gray. 
Trigonocephalus viridis, Schleg. 
Gunther says that Russell describes it (vol. ii. plate 20) also 
as “ Bodroo Pam,” a variety of that described in vol. i. plate 
9. It is very like the preceding. Dr. Stoliczka says that 
its head is elongately oval, and more depressed than either 
T. carinatus or T. gramineus. The lips and chin are white, the 
lateral line is white bordered with purple or greenish below. 
Colour grass green, lighter on the sides and belly. Gunther 
says that old females do not show either the white lips or line. 
In this species there is not generally an azygos shield between 
the supra-nasals, but Dr. Stoliczka says that there is some¬ 
times a small azygos shield. The scales on the body are 
strongly carinated, in twenty-one to twenty-three series. It is 
said (by Gunther) to grow to the length of 33 inches, and to 
* In October, 1870, Dr. Stoliczka brought me a very fine living specimen of T. 
monticola from a height of 5000 feet, near Darjeeling. 
19 
be found in the Delta of the Ganges. Dr. Stoliczka found it 
common in the limestone hills about Moulmein, in Penang, and 
Java. The specimen now before me from the Indian Museum, 
measures 25 inches in length and 2J in girth; the tail is 2# 
inches in length. The Rev. J. G. Haensel, Missionary, in a 
letter to the Rev. C. L. Latrobe, writing about the Nicobar 
Islands, says :•—Serpents are numerous in some places, but 
they are far less abundant and numerous than on the coast of 
Coromandel. The chief cause of this difference I am apt to 
ascribe to a custom prevalent among the natives, of setting the 
long grass on the mountains on fire two or three times a year: 
as these reptiles like to lay their eggs in the grass, great 
quantities of them are thus destroyed.* One kind of serpent 
struck me here as a singular species ; it is of a green colour, 
has a broad head and mouth like a frog, very red eyes, and its 
bite is so venomous that I saw a woman die within half an 
hour after receiving the wound. She had climbed a high tree 
in search of fruit, and not observing the animal among the 
branches, was suddenly bitten in the arm. Being well aware 
of the danger, she immediately descended, but on reaching the 
gi ound rolled to and fro, like one in a state of intoxication. 
The people brought her immediately to me; and while I was 
applying blisters and other means for extracting the poison, 
she died in my hands.” 
Mr. V. Ball of the Geological Survey, who kindly furnished 
me with the above extract, also refers in his interesting account 
of the Nicobar Islands, published in the selections from the 
records of the Government of India, No. Ixxvii., to a remark 
by Dr. Rink in his geographical sketch of those Islands, 
published in 1847, to the effect:—“Snakes of smaller size are 
to be met with in every excursion into the forest, but only 
two species are said to be poisonous ( Trigonocephalus ). I have 
only once seen a native with a swollen leg resulting from the bite 
of a snake ; and cases of death from it are said to be very rare.” 
The snakes alluded to in both these accounts are evidently 
Trimeresuri, and Dr. Rink confirms the opinion that they are 
less deadly than other poisonous snakes; on the other hand, 
the Rev. Mr. Haensel’s account would make it appear that his 
specimen was very deadly, and from the description of the 
colours, shape of the head, and habitat, he is probably referring 
to Trimeresurus carinatus or T. erythrurus. The snake may 
have been an unusually vigorous one, and the woman may 
have been small and weak. Other instances of deaths from 
their bites have been recorded, but on the whole the weight of 
evidence shows them to be less venomous than the Yipers. 
Trimeresurus carinatus. 
Trimesurus carinatus, Gray. 
„ bicolor, Gray. 
„ porphyraceus, Blyth. 
A fine specimen from the Indian Museum, caught at Port 
Canning, near Calcutta, now before me, measures 36 inches 
in length and nearly 5 in girth. It is of a dark grass green 
above throughout, darker on the head and tail, and of a lighter 
green below, approaching white on the ventral surface. 
There is no light coloured line running along the outer series 
of scales, as in some specimens. The head is broad and tri¬ 
angular, covered with small carinated scales. The second 
upper labials form the anterior margin of the loreal pit. There is 
one well developed azygos shield between the supra-nasals. The 
scales on the body are in 25 rows, and are prominently carinated. 
This corresponds very closely with Gunther’s description, 
which is as follows :— 
“ The second upper labial shield forms the front part of the 
facial pit. Scales in from twenty-three to twenty-five rows; 
# This can hardly apply to Trimeresuri, which are said to be viviparous. 
