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Show 690 MR. STANLEY S. FLOWER ON THE [May 16, poisonous snakes, is fortunately of very rare occurrence in the Malay Peninsula. Cantor obtained a specimen 857 m m . in length "killed by Captain Congalton near Keddah." On the 1st June, 1898, I obtained a specimen near Alor Star, Kedah, 775 m m . in length. Imagining it to be the harmless snake Lycodon subcinctus, I carried it in m y hand upstairs to keep in m y room, but fortunately noticed it was a Krait and killed it before it had bitten anyone. A few days later a servant came upstairs and placed on the table a snake he had come across in the garden and thought I might like : it was a live Cobra (Naia tripudians); in this case also luckily the snake had not bitten anyone. Description (notes on). Alor Star specimen mentioned above : temporals 1 + 2; three lower labials in contact with the anterior chin-shields, which are larger than the posterior. Scales in 15 rows. Ventrals 220. Anal ? Subcaudals single, 40 (tip broken), except the 24th and 25th, which are double. Colour (in life). Above purplish black, with 28 double white cross-bands. Skin between scales whitish. Lips, chin, throat, and underneath of body pale yellow, immaculate. Underneath of tail purplish brown, with irregular pale yellow cross-bars. Hab. India, Burma, Southern China, Formosa, Hainan, Indo- China, Lower Siam (Malay Peninsula), Java, Celebes. 203. BUNGARUS FLAVICEPS Reinh. Bungarus flaviceps, Blgr. Cat. Snakes, iii. p. 371 ; S. Flower, P. Z. S. 1896, p. 894. Hab. Tenasserim, Cochinchina, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Nias, Java, and Borneo. 204. NAIA TRIPUDIANS Merr. Naia trip>udians, Blgr. Cat. Snakes, iii. p. 380 (skull fig .p. 372) ; S. Flower, P. Z. S. 1896, p. 894. Siamese. " N g u how." " Toodong sla " of the Malays of Kedah. " Ular mata-ari" of the Malays, according to Cantor. Ular= snake; mata-ari = sun (lit. eye of the day). Localities. The Cobra is apparently not so numerous in the Malay Peninsula as in parts of India and in Siam ; the British Museum Catalogue records var. A.a from Penang, var. C.b from Siam and Kedah, and var. D from Penang and Singapore. Mr. Van Sommeren's collection contains a Cobra from Kuala Lumpor, Selangor, and three caught on Penang Hill; these are of small size, light brown in colour, and have no marks on the hood. I obtained a Cobra, in lalang grass, near Taiping, Perak, which does not agree with any of the described varieties. One caught near Alor Star, Kedah, belongs to var. C 6, as do also nine individuals observed by m e from the neighbourhood of Bangkok, where Cobras frequently attain a large size, as the following table shows. |