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Show 658 MR. STANLEY S. FLOWER ON THE [May 16, Family COLUBRLD^. Series Aglypha. Subfamily ACROCHORDINA'. 102. ACROCHORDUS JAVANICUS Hornstedt. Acrochordus javanicus, Cantor, p. 58 ; Blgr. Cat. Snakes, i. p. 173. Siamese. " Ngu charng-naam " ==" water-elephant snake." Malay. " Ular karong"= sack snake „ " Ular sapi " = ox snake „ " Ular lemba"= cattle snake (apud Cantor). Cantor mentions this species from Penang Hill and Singapore. In June 1898, Mr. A. L. Butler showed me a live specimen that had been caught in a fish-trap in fresh water near Kuala Lumpor, Selangor; it was 1778 mm. in length and had about 152 rows of scales (counted by Mr. Butler). The Raffles Museum contains a specimen from Pahang (R. Hanitsch, Rep. Raffles Libr. & Mus. 1897, p. 9). It does not seem to have been previously recorded from Siam, but it is found in the neighbourhood of Bangkok, and is valued for its skin, which is used for making the drum-heads of native drums. The largest specimen I obtained was from Sapatoom, and measured 1830 mm. (6 feet) in total length. This snake, w7hen alive and fresh caught, is of immense girth and very powerful, twisting round one's arms with a grasp like that of a python. It seems to be purely aquatic (though Cantor records an exception), frequenting canals and ditches. On land as a rule it is very sluggish, but when aroused will strike suddenly with great force, and can inflict an unpleasant bite, as its teeth are apt to break off in the wound. I tried keeping two in a tank with some freshwater tortoises, Cyclemys platynota. The snakes did them no barm, but the tortoises (although they had lived peacefully with other aquatic snakes, Homalopsis buccata and species of Tropidonotus), for some unknown reason, attacked the Acrochordi and repeatedly bit them about the head, so that they had to be separated. Hab. Siam, Malay Peninsula, Java, New Guinea. 103. CHERSYDRUS GRANULATUS (Schneid.). Acrochordus granulatus, Cantor, p. 59. Chersydrus granulatus, Blgr. Cat. Snakes, i. p. 174. Malay. " Ular limpa" = liver-coloured snake (apud Cantor). Cantor also gives " Ular laut" as a Malay name for this species, but every snake which is found in the sea is called " ular laut," i. e. sea-snake. Recorded from Penang (Cantor) and from Singapore (Brit. Mus. Cat.). Mr. Ridley informs me this autumn (1898) a " Chersydrus granulatus was picked up in the road by the Botanical Gardens, |