ATTSTEALIAN SNAKES. 41 



South "Wales. It frequents sandy localities, feeds on insects, small frogs, 

 lizards, &c., and its bite causes no more irritation than the sting of a bee. 

 From 16 to 20 eggs are deposited by it once a year, under stones exposed 

 to the sun generally in the beginning of December, or perhaps earlier, as 

 on more than one occasion vouns? snakes were taken at the end of that 

 month and in the beghining of January. This reptile is generally found 

 from two to three feet in length. During the cold season the Grey Snake 

 retires beneath fiat stones exposed to the sun ; it very seldom, if ever, goes 

 into the ground; it is very sensitive to cold, and the least frost will 

 destroy it. Some times five and more of them have been found under the 

 same stone during the cold season. 



Miller's Sxake. Diemenia miilleH. 



Elaps mUlleri, Sclihg. Ess., pi. 16, f. 16, 17 ; Jilull., Z. Ind. Arch., i. 9. 

 Pseudoelaps mulleri, Dum. Sf Bihr., p. 123.3. 



This species, which is described as " olive, with two yellow or rose- 

 colored streaks along the sides of head and neck," is probably a young or 

 half-grown D. reticulata, which frequently exhibit rose-colored streaks on 

 head and neck. 



Brown Snake. Diemenia superciliosa. 



(Plate VII, adult ; plate XI, figs. 10 and 10a, young.) 



Pseudoelaps superciliosus, Fischer, Abhandlg. im Geh. der Nafur. Ill, part 107, 



taf. 2, fig. 8. 

 Pseudoelaps sordellii, Jan, Sev. et Mag. Zool., pi. C. 

 Pseudoelaps kubinyi, Jan, i.e. 



Diemenia annulata, Gthr., Cat. of Cohih. Snakes, p. 213. 

 Furina testilis, Krefft, Proc. Zool. iS'oc, 1862, p. 149. 



Scales in 15 rows. 



Two anal plates. 



Abdominal plates, 228. 



Subcaudals, 73/73, or more. 



Total length, 5 to 6 feet. 



Head, \\ inch. 



Tail, 10 inches. 



Body elongate and rounded ; head not very distinct from neck, high 



and quadrangular ; superciliaries larger than the vertical ; occipitals ^videly 



forked, rounded, broad ; rostral high, reaching to the surface of crown ; 



one nasal, one anterior, two posterior oculars ; superciliaries prominent 



above the eye ; anterior ocular grooved near the top ; posterior frontals 

 K 



