AUSTEALIAN SNAKES. 73 



which joins this mark to the back. Upper and lower labials dotted with 

 brown spots. Body rouudcd ; head rather flat, depressed ; tail short, 

 distinct from trunk, ending in a conical spine about a quarter of an 

 inch long. Six upper labials, the third and foui'th forming the lower 

 edge of the orbit, the second labial not in contact with the posterior frontal ; 

 rostral broad, low, very obtuse superiorly ; shields of the head regular, all 

 more or less rounded posteriorly, and slightly imbricated, vertical twice as 

 long as broad* ; one anterior and two posterior oculars, one temporal in 

 contact 'odth both oculars, four or five scale-like temporals behind ; eye 

 very small, pupil elliptical, and erect. 



About nine years ago — in 1860 — a single individual of this species 

 was captured ; since then, owing to the exertions of correspondents in the 

 country, specimens from Ash Island, on the Hunter River, Port Macquarie, 

 the Clarence River, and other localities, have been received, so that its 

 geographical range has been ascertained for many hundred miles along 

 the east coast. This snake is strictly nocturnal in its habits, sluggish, and 

 of gentle disposition, never offers to bite when handled, and though 

 venomous, it is so in a very slight degree only, as has been proved by 

 experiments ; its length seldom, if ever, exceeds thirty inches. Rocky and 

 desolate places are frequented by it, and in such localities it is occasionally 

 found under flat stones during the cold season. 



Mr. G. Masters obtained this species last year at Wide Bay, in 

 Queensland ; but the finest specimens in the collection are those presented 

 to the Museum by A. W. Scott, Esq., M.A. ; they were captured at Ash 

 Island, some of them have bright red abdominal plates, but the color 

 has now faded in the spirit specimens. 



CA-COPHIS, Giinther. 

 Cacophis, Giinther, Annals and May. of Naf. Hist., 3rd Series, vol. XII, p. 361. 



Body rather short, head smaU or of moderate size, not distinct from 

 trunk ; eye small, pupil elliptical ; tail moderate, rather thick, ending in 

 a blunt spine ; nostrils in a single nasal. 



* This is not a constanl pharacter. 

 O 



