Account of three snakes
This short note by John Hewitt, published in JSBRAS Vol. 45 (1906), describes three snakes presented to the Sarawak Museum by His Highness the Rajah Muda of Sarawak, taken near the Astana, Kuching (p. 283).
Summary
Hewitt records a brownish colour variety of Coluber oxycephalus, normally bright green above with a yellowish-brown tail (the Dyak name “Ular Matiko” derives from this tail colour). The specimen, over 4 feet long, was uniformly brownish dorsally and pale yellowish ventrally, with the colour stable in methylated spirits. Hewitt notes that his predecessor R. Shelford had previously observed a similar ochreous specimen near the Trusan river mouth that turned green in formol before spoiling (p. 282).
He also describes a colour form of Dipsadomorphus cynodon from Bau and Kuching that does not correspond directly to any of the three varieties described by Bonlenger in the British Museum catalogue, though it is close to his variety B. The dorsal surface is yellowish brown with close-set black dots and ill-defined crossbars, the tail black with incomplete white rings (pp. 282–283).