Page:The poisonous snakes of India. For the use of the officials and others residing in the Indian Empire (IA poisonoussnakeso01ewar).pdf/87



"Head of moderate size and width; neck and body not elongate. Two or three upper labials below the orbit; one post-ocular; anterior temporal shield large; two pairs of chin-shields, which are in contact with one another. Thirty-one series of scales round the neck. Scales slightly imbricate, each with a subcentral tubercle; those on the highest part of the body are rounded or subtruncated behind, as high as long. Ventrals twice or thrice as broad as the scales of the adjoining scries, smooth, 310 in number. Terminal scale of the tail rather large. Trunk with thirty-five narrow, distant, black rings, extending round the belly, sometimes interrupted on the side and dilated on the back; head without markings in the adult; throat and belly whitish. This snake, of which we have examined two adult examples, six feet long, is found on the coast of the mainland of India, as well as in the Archipelago. It has been confounded with other species by all the previous herpetologists. The figure given by Fischer is very recognisable."