Zoology.'] NATURAL HISTORY OF VICTORIA. [Reptiles. 



Plate 142. 



PSEUDECHYS AUSTRALIS (Gray). 



The Brown Pseudechys. 



[Genus PSEUDECHYS (Wagler). (Sub-kingdom Vertcbrata. Class Reptilia. Order 

 Ophidia. Family Elapsidae.) 



Gen. Char. — Body and tail moderately elongate, gradually tapering. Head sub-quadrate> 

 flattened above and at the sides, obtusely rounded in front, little wider than the neck behind ; 

 no loreal plate ; one anterior ocular plate forms the front margin of the orbit, and two posterior 

 oculars its hind edge ; two nasal plates, with the nostril between them. Scales of the back flat, 

 smooth, in about 17 rows ; anal plate double, a variable number of the anterior sub-caudal plates 

 in one row, behind which they form two rows. Confined to Australia.] 



Description. — Scales of back in 25 rows across neck, close behind occipital 

 plates, 17 rows across middle of back, and 13 rows across base of tail; vertex plate 

 elongate, hexagonal, nearly twice as long as wide, wider in front than behind, length 

 more than one-third greater than the space from its anterior angle to posterior edge 

 of rostral plate. Abdominal scales, 210; anal (and preceding) plate double; sub- 

 caudal plates 11 single (1st, 2nd, and 10th double in specimen described), 61 double. 

 Colour : Above uniform brown, under side paler, with the edges slightly darker. 

 Total length of body and tail, 6 ft. ; length of tail, 1 ft. ; length of head from snout 

 to end of occipital plates, 1 in. 2 lines ; from tip of snout to end of gape, 1 in. 2 lines; 

 vertex plate, 4^ lines long, hexagonal, 2§ lines wide in front, long sides 3 lines, 

 across posterior lateral angles 2 lines ; width of two occipital plates together, 9 lines ; 

 length of occipital plate, 6 lines; posterior frontal, 3^ lines ; anterior frontal, 2^ lines; 

 fronto-nasal, H lines; width of rostral, 4 lines; height of rostral, 3| lines. 



Reference. — Naja Australis, Gray, Zool. Misc., p. 55. 



The head seems broader than in the Black Snake (P. por- 

 phyriacus) figured on our first plate, and more rounded at the 

 sides towards the front, the anterior and posterior frontals being- 

 shorter ; the vertex plate is longer in proportion to the length of 

 the suture from its anterior angle to the posterior angle of the 

 rostral plate, but I observe that undoubted specimens of the Black 

 Snake vary considerably in the shape and proportion of the vertex 

 plate, some being slightly shorter in proportion to the width, but 

 they all seem to have, as in our figure, Plate 1, fig. 2c, the lateral 

 sides nearly parallel, while in P. Australis the vertex plate narrows 

 perceptibly posteriorly, and is always greatly longer in proportion 

 to the width. As in the Black Snake (P. porphyriacus) my figure 



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