56 AUSTEALIAN SNAKES. 



General color, black, chin-shields whitish on outer margin ; beneath 

 bluish black, clouded with a somewhat lighter tint on the posterior part. 



Head scarcely distinct from trunk, high, quadrangular, and obtuse 

 in front; anterior frontals as large again as the posterior ones, vertical five- 

 sided, just as long as broad ; occipitals very large, and widely forked ; six 

 upper labials, the fifth largest, and leaving but one narrow temporal shield 

 above it ; behind this there are two more temporals, of which the upper is 

 the largest. The occipitals do not come into contact with more than three 

 scales on each side, whilst one scale is wedged in between the fork, 

 making seven scales in all. There are seven lower labials, one nasal, one 

 anterior, and two postoculars ; the pupil is rounded. 



Habitat, Flinders' Range, South Australia. Discovered by Mr. 

 George Masters, who fou.nd but one specimen. 



Broad-headed Snake. Soplocephalus variegatus. 



(Plate VI, figs. 6, 6a, 6b.) 

 Alecto variegata, Dum. Sf Bihr., p. 1254. 

 Najce buugaroides, Srhleg., Ess. II, p. .577. 

 Najie buugaroides, Boie., Isis, 1828, p. 1034. 



Naja buugaroides, Scldegel, Ess. II, p. 477, and Abbild., t. 48, f. 17, 18. 

 Alecto buugaroides, Dum. Sf Bihr., p. 1257. 



Hoplocejjhalus buugaroides, Gunther, Cat. Colubr. Snakes in Cat. Brit. Mus., p. 213. 

 Hoploceplialus variegatus, Giinther, ibid., p. 214. 



Scales in 21 rows. 



Abdominal plates, 210 or more. 



One anal plate. 



Subcaudals in a single series, from 40 to 50 or more. 



Total length of adult, 3 feet. 



Head, 1 inch. 



Tail, 4 inches. 



Body and tail of moderate size ; head flat, broad behind, and very 

 distinct from the neck; two outer rows of scales of bright yellow, and a spot 

 of the same color in the corner of each ventral plate. The yellow mark- 

 ings become indistinct towards the tail, and are sometimes quite obliterated, 

 though one of the outer rows shows the spots generally as far as where 



