Page:The poisonous snakes of India. For the use of the officials and others residing in the Indian Empire (IA poisonoussnakeso01ewar).pdf/83



Dr. Anderson describes this species as follows:-

"Head short, with the snout declivous and rather pointed; body of moderate length. Frontal shields small, not much larger than præ-ocular; one post-ocular; five upper labial shields, the third and fourth of which enter the orbit, the last below the post-ocular; two or three large temporals on the side of each occipital, the anterior of which enters the labial margin behind the fifth labial shield. Two pairs of chin-shields, in contact with one another. Scales imbricate, large, higher than long, with apex slightly truncated; each scale with a strong keel; they are disposed in fifteen or seventeen series round the neck, and in nineteen or twenty-one in the middle of the body. Ventral shields distinct, but not twice as large as the scales of the adjoining series, bituberculate 235-238 in number. Anal shields small; terminal scale of the tail large. A series of seven simple teeth behind the grooved fang in front. Trunk with from thirty-four to thirty-eight black cross-bands, broadest on the back and extending to the belly in young and half-grown specimens."