35 



TROPIDONOTUS TAX1SFILOT\:S.—Holbrook. 



Plate VIIJ. 



Characters, Head sub-oval, elongated, covered with large plates above; body 

 elongated, but thick, light chocolate-brown, with a triple series of sub-quadrate 

 and oblong black spots. PL 144. Sc. 79. 



Description. The head is elongated, sub-oval, flattened above, and covered 

 with large plates. The vertical plate is very regularly quadrilateral; the superior 

 orbital is irregularly oblong, obtusely pointed anteriorly. The occipital are 

 broad, rounded, and notched irregularly posteriorly; behind these are two large 

 temporal plates on each side. The frontal are regularly hexagonal; the anterior 

 frontal elongated and triangular, with their apices truncated. The rostral plate 

 sub-pentagonal, rounded above, concave below. There are two nasal plates, 

 quadrilateral; the anterior hollowed behind, and the posterior concave in front, 

 to form the nostril. There are two quadrilateral posterior orbital plates, nearly 

 of the same size; there is but one anterior orbital, nearly a parallelogram. The 

 inferior wall of the orbit is completed by the superior labial plate; there are eight 

 of these, quadrilateral, the smallest anterior. 



The nostrils are large, and open upwards and outwards, and near the snout. 

 The eyes are large and prominent, the pupil dark, the iris gray. The posterior 

 part of the head and neck is covered with small carinated scales. The neck 

 is much contracted. The body is elongated, but large, and covered with 

 hexagonal and very strongly carinated scales, notched posteriorly. The tail is 

 thick at the root, sub-triangular, and long. 



