m AUSTEALIAN SNAKES. 



Ramsay's Snake. Hoplocephalus rmnsayi. 



(Plate XI, fig. 2.) 

 Hoplocephalus ramsayi, Krefff, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1861, p. 181. 



Scales in 15 rows. 



Abdominal plates, 164. 



Two anal plates. 



Subcaudal plates in a single series, 51. 



Total length, 10^ inches. 



Tail, 2 inches. 



Body rather elongate and rounded ; head scarcely distinct from 

 neck, rather high and elongate, with obtuse muzzle ; rostral just reaching 

 to the surface of crown ; anterior frontals moderate, rounded in front ; 

 posterior ones larger, bent down on the sides ; one anterior, two posterior 

 oculars, the lower forming about one-fourth of the orbit ; vertical narrow, 

 six-sided, much longer than broad ; superciliaries nearly the same size as 

 the vertical ; occipitals moderate, not forked behind ; six upper labials, the 

 third and fourth forming the lower part of the orbit ; no loreal, replaced 

 by the elongate nasal, second and third upper labial, anterior ocular, and 

 bent down anterior frontal ; one nasal, pierced by the nostril ; scales 

 moderate, rhomboidal, in fifteen rows ; tail rather short, scarcely distinct 

 from trunk, tapering ; eye moderate, pupil rounded ; grooved fang in front, 

 some smaller smooth teeth behind. 



Dark olive-green above, each scale tipped with reddish, in particular 

 those on the sides ; crown and a narrow vertebral line, one scale wide, 

 somewhat darker than the other parts ; this line extends to the root of the 

 tail ; upper labials and chin-shields whitish, marked with olive-brown in 

 the upper corners. Beneath yellow, each ventral scale with a blackish 

 margin ; subcaudals nearly black, 



Mr. E, P. Ramsay discovered this new snake in the neighbourhood 

 of Braidwood, N. S. Wales ; it is apparently a young specimen, its total 

 length not exceeding lOJ inches. 



