OCR Text |
Show 1875.] DR. A. GUNTHER ON INDIAN REPTILES. 227 becomes lower posteriorly on the trunk, but is continued to the basal portion of the tail in the male, whilst it disappears behind the middle of the trunk in the female. Scales on the side of the body exceedingly large, nearly four times the size of those on the abdomen; a transverse series in the middle of the trunk is composed of not more than seven scales. A fold in front of the shoulder. An immature male (body 4 inches long) is green, with five broad black cross-bands, each scale within the bands having an orange-coloured spot in the middle; tail with broad blackish rings; lips yellowish green. In an adult male (body 5| inches long) only traces of the two middle bands remain, nearly the whole of the upper parts being uniformly green ; lips yellowish. The adult female is uniform green. Three specimens were found by Col. Beddome at the foot of the Canoot Ghat; the largest is 18 inches long, the body measuring 5| inches. ONYCHOCEPHALUS ACUTUS. I do not find any character by which 0. malabaricus (Beddome) can be distinguished from this species. SILYBURA. The following is a synopsis of all the species known, prepared with the assistance of the numerous examples in Col. Beddome's collection. I. Scales in nineteen rows. A. Ventral scutes 205-214. Snout pointed ; nasals not separated by the rostral. Caudal disk convex. Sooty black above, reddish below, the two colours encroaching upon each other in a zigzag line, and the black forming cross bars on the anterior part of the abdomen ; a reddish spot on the cheek. 1. Silybura grandis (Beddome) : Anamallays, 4000 feet. B. Ventral scutes 166-169. Snout pointed ; nasals separated by the rostral, which is about as long as the vertical. Head very small; vertical rather broad. Caudal disk more or less convex. Upper parts reddish violet or purplish, with irregular transverse rows of (sometimes very indistinct) yellowish ocellated specks. Abdomen deep black, this colour being separated from that of the upper parts by a yellow band commencing at the angle of the mouth, and broken up in spots behind, or entirely replaced by an irregular row of spots. A yellow band on each side of the lower part of the tail. 2. S. melanogaster, sp. n. (Plate X X X I . fig. A.) Two specimens from the Anamallays and Travancore, 15* |