ELAPIDiE.
Genus N a j a , Laur.
N a j a t r i p t j d ia n s , Merr.
Naja, tripudian#, Merr. Tentam. Syst. Amph, 1820, p. 147.
Both specimens are uniform brownish above, yellow beneath, with three broad
blackish bands across the neck and forepart of the abdomen of the one, and two
across the neck of the other. The under surface of the former is blotched here and
there with brown, that of the latter is immaculate yellow. The inferior anterior
temporal rests on the 5th and 6th labials.
Length 44*88 inches; head 1*04 inches; tail 6*12
„ 12*42 „ ,,, ,0*58 „ 2*7,5
Ventrals 181; sub-eaudals 55
,, 180 „ 58
Mandalay and Momien.
Genus B u n g a r u s , Daud.
B u n g a r u s f a s c ia t t j s , Schneider.
Russell, Ind. Serpt., vol. i, 1796, p., 8, pi. 8.
Pseudoboa fasciata, Schneider, Hist. Amph., 1799-1800, p. 288.
Bungarus annularis, Daud., Rept., vol. v, 1811, p. 265, pi. Ixv, figs. 1 & 2 ; Schlegel, Phys. Serpt.,
vol. ii, 1837, p. 457,i pi. 16, fig. 21.; Abbild. .1887-44, pi. 18, figs. 1-5.
Aspidoclonion annulare, Wagler, Syst. Amph., 1880, p. ,198.
Bungarus fascialus, Cantor, Joum. As. Soe., Bengal, vol. xvi, 1847, p. 1084; Jerdon,. Journ. As.
Soc., Bengal, 1858, vol. xxii, p. 522; Giinther, Rept. B rit. Ind., 1864, p. 848; Theobald, Journ.
As. Soc., Bengal, vol. xxxvii, 1868, p. 7 8 ; id., Journ. Linn. Soc., 1868, p. 62; id., Descr.
Cat. Rept. B. Ind., 1876, p. 216; Fayrer, Thanatoph. India, 1872, pi. 9.
Only one example of this species passed under my observation in Upper
Burma, having been captured at Tsagain on the right bank of the Irawady.
CROTALHLE.
Genus T r i m e r e s u r u s , Giinther.
T r im e r e s u r u s g r a m in e u s , Shaw.
Russell, Ind. Serpt., vol. i, 1796, p. 18, pi. ix.
Coluber gramineus, Shaw., Genl. Zool., 1802, vol. iii, p .-420.
Vípera viridis, Daud., Rept.,.vol. vi, 1803, p. 112. '
Cophias viridis, Merrem, Tentam, 1820, p. 155.
Trigonocephalm viridis, Schlegel, Ess. Phys. Serp., 1887, p. 544, pi. 19, figs. 12, 13.
Trigonoeephalus gramineus, Cantor, Joum. As. Soc., Bengal, vol. xvi, 1847, p. 1040.
-Trimeresurus viridis, Gray, Zool. Miscell., 1842, p. 4 8 ; Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., 1853, vol. xii,
p. 391; Cat. Snakes, B, M., 1849, p. 7.
Trimeresurus elegans, Gray, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. xii, 1858, p. 891.
Bothrops viridis, Dum. & Bibr., Erpét. Gèni., vol. vii, 1854, p. 1518.
Trimeresurus gramineus, Giinth., Rept. Brit. Ind., 1864, p. 885; Theobald, Joum. As. Soc.,
Bengal, vol. xxxvii, ex No., p. 75; id., Joum. Linn. Soc., Lond., vol. xi, 1868, p. 64;
id., Descr. Cat. Rept. B. Ind., 1876, p. 219; Stoliczka, Journ. As. Soc., Bengal, vol. xxxix,
1870, pp. 141, '2 1 6 ; Anderson, op. cit., vol. xl, 1871, p. 37; id., Proc. Zool. Soc., 1871,
p. 194.
A specimen from Ponsee measures 14 inches, of which the tail forms 1*92 inches.
The ventrals are 174, and the sub-eaudals 58. The only particular in which
this snake differs from the hitherto known examples of this species is in the
presence of 23 instead of 21 rows of scales. The supranasals are separated from
each other and from the rostral by an azygos plate nearly equalling a supra-
nasal in size. The scales of the upper surface of the head are imbricate and
smooth. The superciliary is long and undivided. General colour grass-green,
lighter on the sides and pale yellowish-green on the under surface. The upper lips
pale-green.
I have compared this specimen with the snakes referred by Gunther to this
species, and with Cantor’s T. gramineus and with the types of T. viridis and
T. elegans, Gray, from which it is in no way specifically separable.
In the snake from the Himalaya, collected by Dr. Hooker and referred by
Dr. Gray to T. viridis, two shields intervene between the supranasals ; the first
labial is distinct from the nasal, but two shields exist between the supranasals and
the loreal, one of these on the right side being confluent with the supranasal. I t
is interesting to observe that this latter asymmetrical detail is exactly reproduced
in another snake, also obtained by Hooker in the Himalaya, and regarded by Gray,
as the type of a new species, T. elegam. The latter differs from the former, among
other subordinate details, in having only one shield between the supranasals. In
one of Cantor’s specimens from Bintai, referred to this species, I observe that the
first labial and nasal are united except behind the nostril, and that a similar arrangement
exists in a Rangoon specimen, but in other Penang snakes of this species
these two plates are distinct. I t is extremely difficult, however, in many
instances to distinguish between examples of T. bicolor, Gray, and T. gramineus, but
the former would appear to be recognizable from the latter by its smaller head
scales, the stronger carination of its supraorbitals and temporals, and in the more
elongated character of its body scales, in all of which respects it differs also from
T. alboldbris, which is in no way separable from T. erythrurus, Cantor. I make
these remarks because it does seem that T. carmatus, Gray, to which T. bicolor, Gray,
has been relegated as a synonym, is specifically distinct, whereas some doubt
does exist as to the specific distinctness of T. ca/rinatus, Gray, and T. purpureus,
Gray. The type of T. carinatus1 is a dark brownish-purple snake, but with a
greenish tinge on the side, and with a pale lateral streak, and with dusky under-
parts, and with narrower ventrals than the green snakes {T. bicolor) which have
1 The. locality from whence i t was obtained is unknown.