POLYODONTOPHIS. 



301 



Head much depressed ; eye very small. Eostral large, more 

 than twice as broad as deep, just visible from above ; nasal divided 

 below the nostril ; internasal single, as long as or a little shorter 

 than the likewise single praefrontal ; frontal as broad as long, as long 

 as its distance from the end of the snout, two thirds the length of 

 the parietals ; supraocular very small ; loreal as long as deep ; one 

 prseocular ; two postoculars ; temporals 1 + 1 ; 5 upper labials, the 

 upper angle of the third entering the eye, fifth very large ; 3 lower 

 labials in contact with the anterior chin-shields, which are not 

 longer than the posterior. Scales in 17 rows. Ventrals 199-213 ; 

 anal divided ; subcaudals 58-77. Blackish brown above, brownish 

 white below. 



Total length 24 inches, tail 5. 



Hob. Khasi Hills, Assam, Yunnan. 



Genus POLYODONTOPHIS *. 



Teeth very numerous and closely set, equal in size, 30 to 50 in 

 each maxillary. Dentary bone loosely attached to the articular, 

 free posteriorly f. Head short, not or but slightly distinct from 

 neck ; eye rather small, with round pupil ; head-shields normal. 



Fig. 9(i. Head and dentition of Polt/odaiituphis collaris. 



Body cylindrical, elongate ; scales smooth, without apical pits, in 

 17 or 19 rows ; venti-als not angulate laterally ; tail moderate or 

 long ; subcaudals in two rows. 



This very natural genus includes 9 species : four from India, 

 Ceylon, Burma, and Southern China, described below ; one from 

 Siam and the Malay Peninsula and Archipelago, P. melanocephalus, 

 Gray (=ornatus, Jan), of which Ablabes yeminatus, Schleg., and 



* The name Enicognathiis, Dum. &Bibr. (1854), is preoccupied (G-. E. Gray, 

 1840). 



t As in Xenopeltis (see fig. 84, p. 275), in which the teeth are likewise very 

 numerous and closely set. 



