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Show 654 MR. STANLEY S. FLOWER ON THE [May 16, 94. TYPHLOPS ALBICEPS. (Plate XXXVII. fig. 1.) Typhlops albiceps, Blgr. Ann. & Mag. N. H . ser. 7, vol. i., Feb. 1898, p. 124. This species was described from a single specimen 1 obtained from a native, who said it was from Chantaboon ; afterwards we found a second individual among some earth in our garden at Bangkok. Colour (in life). Above and below uniform dark brown, highly iridescent. Head very pale purplish pink, turning to pale yellow on the snout. The tip and under surface of the tail are whitish buff. Total length 190 m m . Hab. Siam. 95. TYPHLOPS FLOWERI1. (Plate XXXVII. fig. 2.) Hab. Siam. Family BoiDcE. 96. P Y T H O N RETICULATUS (Schneid.). Python reticulatus, Cantor, p. 55; Blgr. Cat. Snakes, i. p. 85. Siamese. " Ngu-laam." Malay. " Ular sawa." Localities. The Reticulated Python (commonly called " Boa Constrictor" by the English of Indo-China) is fairly numerous in suitable places in the Malay Peninsula. I have seen specimens from Penang, Province Wellesley, Perak, Selangor, Johore, and Singapore. In Siam I have seen only Bangkok specimens, but there can be no doubt that this snake is widely distributed through the country. Habits. This python is very numerous in the city and suburbs of Bangkok; in almost every compound of which I know the occupants, either private houses or offices, one or more pythons have been found within the last few years. Strange to say, it is not in the quiet jungle-forest that the python seems to prefer to live, but in the busiest spots along the Menam, where steamers and junks are loading and unloading, steam-launches whistling, steam-saws buzzing, rice-mill chimneys filling the air with smoke, and hundreds of noisy coolies passing to aud fro; here he selects some hole or crevice in building, timber-stack, or bank to spend the day in, and at night makes an easy living, devouring fowls, ducks, cats, dogs, and, it is said, pigs (which, together with countless 1 Typhlops fioweri, sp. n.-Snout rounded, very prominent; nostrils lateral. Rostral two-fifths the width of the head; nostril between two nasals, the anterior in contact with the first and second labials; a praeocular, narrower than the ocular, in contact with the second and third labials ; eyes distinguishable ; upper head-scales scarcely enlarged ; four upper labials. Diameter of body 85 times in the total length ; tail three times as long as broad, rounded at the end, without spine; 18 scales round the body. Black ; snout and anal region yellowish. Total length 210 millim. A single specimen from Siam, without precise locality, was sent to the British Museum by Mr. Flower, after w h o m I have the pleasure of naming the new species.-Gr. A. B O U L E N G E R. |