70 TRIGONOCEPHALUSCONTORTRIX. 



orbital plates nearly of the same size, the upper one triangular; the inferior orbital 

 plate is single, long, narrow and semicircular; there are two anterior orbitals, 

 the upper quadrilateral, the lower makes the superior wall of the pit between the 

 eye and the nostril, which is completed below by the second labial plate, and by a 

 small plate that rests on the third labial. The margin of the upper jaw is covered 

 with seven quadrilateral plates. The nostrils are large, lateral, and placed near 

 the snout; the eyes are large, but do not at first appear so from the projection of 

 the superior orbital plates; the pupil is elliptical, vertical and dark; the iris bright 

 golden, with a tinge of red. The neck is greatly contracted; the body is elongated, 

 but thick to near the tail, and is covered above with rhomboidal scales, carinated, 

 except those of the lower rows, which are smooth and larger. The abdomen is 

 covered with plates, the last one of which is very large; the tail is short, thick, 

 conical, and ends in a horny tip. 



Colour. The head is a delicate light hazel-nut brown above, with the labial 

 plates whitish; the ground of the colour of the whole animal, neck, body and tail, 

 is of the same delicate hue, lighter on the sides, where the scales are beautifully 

 freckled with small dark spots. Behind the occiput begins a series of transverse 

 bars of dark brown, continued to near the extremity of the tail; these bars are 

 contracted along the vertebral line, but are broader and bifurcated on the flanks. 

 These bars are lightest on the back, darker at the sides, with their anterior and 

 posterior margins bordered with brown. The under surface of the whole animal is 

 flesh-coloured, freckled with minute points of dark brown, and a series of sub-round 

 dark coloured spots on the abdominal plates near their extremities; these ascend 

 to include a scale or two on the flanks, and are so disposed that one spot corre- 

 sponds to the point of bifurcation of the transverse dorsal bars, and another to 

 the space between them; all these spots terminate at the tail, which is flesh-colour 

 below. 



Dimensions. Length of head, 1 inch 2 lines; breadth of head, 11 lines; length 

 of body, 21 inches; length of tail, 3£ inches; greatest circumference of body, 3£ 

 inches; circumference of the neck, 1 inch 10 lines. In the individual described, 



