CBOTALIDiE. 
21 
Trimeresurus strigatus. 
Trimesurus strigatus. Gray. 
Trigonocephalus neelglierriensis, Jerdon. 
This species is found on the Nilgherries and in the Deccan, 
and is common about Ootacamund. 
A specimen in the Indian Museum measures 14J inches, 
girth 1 { inch ; it is brown, with a line of darker coloured irregular 
vertebral spots. It has a horseshoe-shaped whitish mark on 
the neck. There is a triangular dark spot below the eye and 
loreal pit, and a dark brown band leading from the eye to the 
neck. The lower jaw and belly marked with black spots. The 
end of the tail terminates in a scale ; in young specimens it is 
white. 
Gunther describes it:—“ The shield forming the front part 
of the facial pit is separate from the second upper labial. 
Supraciliary shield narrow; no large shields behind the rostral. 
The whole upper surface of the head is covered with small 
nearly smooth scales. Nine or ten upper labials, becoming 
smaller in size behind. Scales distinctly keeled, in twenty-one 
series. Ventrals 136-142; sub-caudals 31-40. Tail but slightly 
prehensile, terminating in a short conical scale.” 
It is a small snake, the largest specimen Dr. Gunther has 
examined being nineteen inches in length. 
Major Beddome describes T. neelglierriensis (Jerdon):— 
"Dark brown with black markings; 23 rows of carinated 
scales ; scut® 142 ; scutellse 46.” 
It is the same species. 
Trimeresurus mucrosquamatus. 
Trigonocephalus mucrosquamatus, Cantor. 
The Indian Museum has at present no individual of this 
species, nor have I been able to obtain it. Gunther says it is 
found in the Naga Hills and Assam. Cantor describes it thus :— 
“ Brownish-grey above, with black, white-edged rings, covered 
with oval, half-keeled, pointed, imbricate scales; whitish 
beneath, dotted with black. Ventrals 218 ; sub-caudals 91.” 
Gunther says:—“ This species has not been recognised by later 
herpetologists,” and that the typical specimen is lost. Only 
the drawing of it made by Cantor is preserved in the library of 
the Oxford Museum. 
Trimeresurus anoersonii. 
Mr. Theobald has named what he considers a new species 
after Dr. Anderson, the Curator of the Indian Museum. It 
is described in his Catalogue of the Asiatic Society’s (now 
Indian) Museum, pp. 75 to 76. It has 25 rows of carinated 
scales, 182 ventrals, and 56 sub-caudals in one specimen, and 
71 in the other: girth If inch, length 20 inches, length of 
tail 2f inches. The second upper labial forms the anterior 
margin of the prse-orbital pit; supra-nasals separated by an 
azygos shield. The colour above and below is a uniform rich 
brown. Belly and sides marked conspicuously with white 
spots. Bound in Assam. A second individual, named by Mr. 
Theobald in the same catalogue as T. obscurus, has the “ back 
of a uniform brown, sides green, spotted, and mottled. Belly 
greenish-wliite, brown barred and spotted, supraciliaries well 
defined.” But it is very doubtful if this be distinct from T. 
andersonii. The length of the Museum specimen is 20 inches, 
of which the tail is 2f inches. The girth is If inch. 
Trimeresurus wardii, Jerdon. 
Gunther says of this :—“ Quite indeterminable is another of 
Mr. Jerdon's species, for which he has proposed the name of 
T. wardii. 
Major Beddome, in the Madras Quarterly Journal of Medi¬ 
cal Science, No. ix., July, 1862, p. 2, describes it as 
follows :—“ Greenish with purplish-brown diamond spots on 
back and sides, 12-14 inches long. I lab. Nilgherries.” 
PELTO PELOIi, Gunther. 
Peltopeeor macrolepis. 
Trimesurus macrolepis, Beddome. 
There is only one species of the genus Peltopelor known : it 
was discovered by Major Beddome of Madras, and is now called 
the Peltopelor macrolepis. It is arboreal, and nearly allied to 
Trimeresurus; it comes from the Anamallay Mountains, where. 
Major Beddome says, it is common in the grass at 6000 feet 
elevation. He also procured a specimen from the Pulney Hills, 
in the moist forests at 4000 feet elevation. 
Major Beddome’s description is “dark green, lighter below, 
the lowermost row of scales on each side white, forming a white 
line on each side of the abdomen (Gunther calls it a yellow 
line) ; scales in twelve to fourteen rows, the lowest row the 
smallest, all pointed and very prominently carinated; head 
covered with very large plate-like scales. Ventral scut® 133- 
138; sub-caudals 53-56 pairs ; rostral triangular, erect.” The 
largest specimen examined by Gunther was 21 inches, of which 
the tail measured 4f inches. 
HALYS, Gray. 
This genus has two species in Hindostan. It is characterized 
by its broad obtuse head, covered with shields. There are 
twenty-three to twenty-seven series of carinated scales ; sub- 
caudals two-rowed; tail short, not prehensile, terminates in a 
spine. 
Halys elliotti. 
The first species is one found in the Nilgherries, and de¬ 
scribed by Mr. Jerdon, who named it Trigonocephalus elliotti. 
{Journal Asiatic Society, Bengal, xxii., 1854, page 523.) 
“Bonn massive; scales in 23 rows; ventral shields 151; sub- 
caudals 43. Olive green above; pearl white beneath ; two feet 
long and upwards.” 
Bound in the lower slopes of the Nilgherries. 
There is no specimen of this snake in the Indian Museum. I 
depend on Gunther, Jerdon, and Beddome for the account of it. 
Halys Himalayan us. 
Trigonocephalus affinis, Gunther. 
A specimen from the Indian Museum before me measures 23 
inches in length, 2 | in girth. Gunther's description of it is :— 
“ Snout of moderate length, broader than long, with the nose 
rather protruding. Bostral shield oblique, higher than broad ; 
frontals well developed, not broken up into smaller shields. The 
anterior frontals short, transversely produced, and tapering on the 
sides , both taken together form a sort of crescent. Bosterior 
frontals large, somewhat pointed in front, and rounded behind. 
Vertical and supraciliaries as usual in this genus; occipitals rather 
small, rounded. Bive upper labials, a sixth and seventh being 
confluent with the temporals ; the second is small, not entering 
the margin of the facial pit; the third enters the orbit. There 
is a series of three large temporal shields, the tw r o hinder of 
which form a portion of the lip ; the space between these tem¬ 
porals and the occipital is covered with small scales. 
Body of moderate length, rounded ; its middle is covered with 
twenty-three series of strongly keeled scales. Ventrals 162-166 ; 
anal entire; sub-caudals 43-51. The tail terminates in a long 
spine. Dark brown, with large band-like spots across the back; 
these spots are very indistinct, scarcely differing from the 
ground-colour, and becoming visible only by their black edges; 
belly almost entirely black, marbled with yellowish. A broad 
blackish-brown band runs from the eye along the series of tem¬ 
poral shields to the angle of the mouth; it has a narrow black 
and white edge above and below, and is better defined in the 
young individual than in the old one. Lower labials marbled 
with yellowish and blackish.” 
G 
