Page:The poisonous snakes of India. For the use of the officials and others residing in the Indian Empire (IA poisonoussnakeso01ewar).pdf/91



“Head hardly distinct from neck. Neck and body of nearly equal girth throughout. Round neck, 2" 2"; round middle of body, 2"9". Body elongated; thirty-four series of scales round the neck; forty round the middle of the body; scales almost smooth on the neck and anterior third of the body; two feeble keel-like tubercles, one before the other, very obscure, but more strongly developed on the two posterior thirds; ventrals twice the size of the adjoining scales, quite smooth, broken up here and there on the posterior live-eighths of the body. Two pairs of anal-shields, the central pair of moderate size, elongated; the external pair very large. The vertical is pointedly linguate. One præ-, and two post-oculars. The third, fourth, and fifth labials enter the orbit on one side, but only the third and the fourth on the opposite side; the fifth being transversely divided into two shields, which do not reach quite as high as the orbital margin. Two pairs of large chin-shields, the anterior pair quadrangular and the posterior pair rather elongated; olive-yellow above, yellowish on the scales and under surface; sixty-two broad black bands on the back contracting to a point on the sides, but prolonged very indistinctly on to them and the ventral aspect, where they expand as a large blackish spot. Near the tail the dorsal bands become connected together, and their continuations on the ventral aspect follow a similar arrangement. Six black rings on the tail, confluent below; the latter third entirely black. Hooghly, below Calcutta. Length (total) 4 feet, 5" 6", tail 4" 3". The peculiarity of this species is its elongated body, the uniform breadth which it preserves throughout its length and the enlarged and smooth ventrals, It is found in the tidal streams near Calcutta (Fayrer).