AUSTRALIAN SNAKES. 23 



Richardson's Water Snake. Myron richardsonii. 



Myron richardsonii. 0-rai/, Cat. of Snakes in. Col. B. M., p. 70. 



Scales keeled, black with alternate olive and many black cross bands ; 

 sides white spotted ; beneath white ventral shields dark edged with dusky 

 central longitudinal streaks. A single reptile in the British Museum, 

 obtained by Sii' John Richardson on the North-west Coast of Australia. 



FAMILY OF DAY TREE mkHYE-DENBBOFBID^. 



This group of reptiles, like other non-venomous snakes, has few 

 representatives in Australia ; two species only have been discovered. They 

 live in trees, and feed on frogs, lizards, young birds, and probably birds' 

 eggs. The scales on the sides are generally narrow, with a row of larger 

 scales on the back ; the ventral plates have a sharp keel on each side, 

 enabling the animal to climb with great facility, Australian Tree Snakes 

 have teeth of equal size, the last tooth being the strongest of the series. 



DEM'DEOPHIS, Boie. 



Body and tail very elongate, slender, compressed ; head rather 

 depressed, oblong, with the snout obtusely rounded in front. Eye rather 

 large, with round pupil ; nostril lateral, between two nasals ; shields of 

 the head regular ; scales smooth in Australian specimens, in thirteen rows, 

 and those of the vertebral series more or less enlarged ; the other scales 

 very imbricate and elongate, narrow, and quadrilateral; ventral shields 

 keeled ; anal bifid ; posterior maxillary teeth not enlarged or grooved. 



Green Tree Snake. I>endroj)his inmiclulata. 



(Plates IV and V, figs. 6, 6a.) 

 Dendrophis punctulata. Gray, Gthr's. Cat. of Cohibr. Snakes, B. M., p. 1-19. 



Scales in 12 or 13 rows. 

 Abdominals, 207 or more. 

 Two anal plates. 

 Subcaudals, 106/106 or more. 

 Total length, 5 to 6 feet. 

 Head, \\ inch. 

 Tail, 11 inches. 



