59 AUSTRALIAN SNAKES. 



Stephens' Banded Snake. Soploeephalus stephensii. 



(Plate VI, fig. 7.) 

 Hoploeephalus stephensii, spec. nov. 



Scales in 21 rows. 

 Abdominal plates, 239. 

 One anal plate. 

 Subcaudals, 60. 

 Head, 1^ inch. 

 Tail, 4^ inches. 

 Total length, 30 inches. 



Body rather elongate^with flat quadrangular belly ; a kind of sharp 

 fold, almost amounting to a keel (similar to that in the genus Dendrophis), 

 runs from the neck to the vent on each side, defining the middle portion 

 of the abdominal scales, and leaving a part the size of a scale on the sides 

 of the body. 



The head is not so broad and distinct from the trunk as in 

 H. variegatus, but it is rather large, and has its scales similarly arranged ; 

 the occipitals are more elongate, and the vertical broader, with a sharp 

 angle behind, cutting-in between them even more than is shown in 

 our figure. 



Thirty-eight black bands, or rather half-bands, cover the back from 

 the head to the vent, and seven or eight the tail, those of the hinder part 

 of the body being occasionally interrupted and irregular. Thirty-seven 

 dirty white bands, half the size of the black ones, divide them, and both 

 reach down to the ventral fold or keel, giving color to that part of the 

 ventrals accordingly (either black or white). The cliin shields, and the first 

 twenty or thh-ty ventrals are spotted with yellow, the abdominal scales 

 then assume a light lead color, becoming darker towards the tail. The 

 head is less dark tlian that of S. variegatus, not so much sjiotted, and the 

 stripe or loop, a scale wide, reaching from the eye to the occiput on each 

 side, is very regular. 



The principal difference between the two snakes is the sharp edge on 

 each side of the ventrals,* the distinct and clearly defined bands upon the 

 back, and the variation of color in the outer row of scales and the corners of 



* The ventral plates are deeply cut out on each eide. 



