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Show 1899.] REPTILES O F T H E M A L A Y PENINSULA A N D SIAM*. 667 Localities. The Dhaman or Rat-Snake seems to be numerous in Bangkok, and I have come across several specimens, especially in the W a n g N a and at Sapatoom. There is a specimen in the British Museum, obtained in Siam by M . Mouhot, and one said to be from Singapore, presented by Dr. Dennys. Habits. I have more than once seen the Dhaman moving in the open in bright daylight. When newly caught it is fierce and bites hard, and, as the teeth sometimes break off in one's flesh, it may inflict a nasty wound unless the broken-off teeth are at once extracted. When angry it utters repeatedly a curious threatening sound, audible some yards off, best described as " roaring," something like the the deep growling of a big dog. It also rears up its head like a Cobra and dilates its neck, but not transversely like Naia or dorsally, but ventraily; the anterior ventral shields are thrust out and become acutely keeled, and the skin on the sides of the neck is widely stretched, showing yellow between the brown scales. Colour (in life). Above olive-brown or light yellowish brown, shading towards the sides (on the anterior half especially) to very pretty shades of purple and mauve-grey. On specimens up to 1000 mm. in length there are on the anterior half of the body indistinct, narrow, light cross-bands, showing plainest on the sides, and more or less obliterated in the vertebral region. In all specimens, on the posterior part of the body and on the tail, are numerous very distinct but irregular black cross-bands, narrower than the pale brown interspaces. Below pale yellow, the cervical and posterior ventral shields and the subcaudal shields are partially edged with black. Labials yellow, strongly edged with black along the sutures. Size. A n individual from Sapatoom measured 2284 m m . (7 feet 6 inches) in total length, and others were nearly as large. Hab. Transcaspia, Afghanistan, Cashmere, Nepaul, Sikhim, India, Ceylon, Burma, Eormosa, South China, Siam, Malay Peninsula, Java. 130. ZAMENIS SPINALIS (Peters). Zamenis spinalis, Blgr. Cat. Snakes, i. p. 394. Hab. Mongolia, Corea, China, Hainan, Siam. 131. ZAMENIS FASCIOLATUS (Shaw). Zamenis fasciolatus, Blgr. Cat. Snakes, i. p. 404. Recorded from Province Wellesley (Cantor, p. 72). Hab. Northern India, Madras, Malay Peninsula. 132. XENELAPHIS HEXAGONOTUS (Cantor). Xenelaphis hexagonotus, Blgr. Cat. Snakes, ii. p. 8. Recorded from Penang, Pahang, and Singapore (P. Z. S. 1896, p. 882). Hab. Burma, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, Borneo. |