AUSTRALIAN SNAKES. 29 



Dr. Giiiither observed an increase of temperature between the coils 

 of the snakes incubating in the Gardens of the Zoological Society of 

 London ; and he draws the conclusion that a higher degree of warmth is 

 necessary for the development of embryonic Pythons than for other snakes. 



MTOEBLI-A., Gray. 



Head shields small, scale-like ; frontal plates distinct, three pairs ; 

 vertical plate small ; rostral shield single, with a pit on each side ; three 

 front upper, and the hinder lower labials pitted ; nostrils lateral, in a single 

 plate, with a groove beneath ; eyes lateral, pupil elliptical, erect ; scales, 

 small, smooth ; subcaudals two-rowed. 



Diamond Snake. Morelia spilotes. 



(Plates I and V, figs. 1, 2.) 

 Morelia spilotes, Gray. Cat. of the Specimens of Snakes in Col. Brit. Mus., p. 85. 



Scales in 47 rows. 

 Abdominals, 276. 

 Two anal plates. 

 Subcaudals, 80/80. 

 Total length, 8 to 10 feet. 

 Head, 4 inches. 

 Tail, 15 inches. 



One of the characteristics by which harmless Hock Snakes may be 

 at once distinguished from poisonous serpents, is the large number of 

 scales covering their body ; at present but one venomous species is known 

 to have as many as twenty-six rows of scales, whilst Pythons or Kock 

 Snakes have double that number. 



The Diamond Snake has the body scales in 47 rows, with about 

 276 to 300 ventral plates, and the scales under the tail divided into 

 80/80 or 90/90 or more. The subcaudal plates vary in almost every 

 individual, as the much-used prehensile tail is liable to be injiired or 

 broken, and is not in the latter case reproduced like the tail of lizards. 

 The general colour of the Diamoiid Snake is a kind of bluish-black, very 

 glossy when the skin is fresh, and the epidermis lately shed, but becoming 

 duller after the wear and tear of a few months, and quite opaque just 

 before the skin-shedding process begins. As a rule. Diamond Snakes 



