AMBLYCEPHALUS BOA. 325 



These snakes are of small size, and their narrow mouth does not admit of their swallowing 

 large animals ; they feed on insects, and live on trees and bushes or under roofs of huts ; 

 they are nocturnal animals. Two genera are known in British India, — a third genus, Bipsa- 

 domorus, being confined to Sumatra : — 



Subcaudals entire Amblycephalus, p. 325. 



Subcaudals bifid Pareas, p. 326. 



AMBLYCEPHALUS. 



Amblycephalus, sp., Kuhl. 



Body and tall slender, strongly compressed, prehensile ; head thick and 

 large, much elevated, with convex lips, very distinct from neck. Shields 

 of the head irregular : rostral very high ; two pairs of frontals of moderate 

 size ; an elongate vertical and supraciliaries ; a pair of rounded occipitals ; 

 smaller shields are sometimes intercalated between those mentioned. Several 

 loreals ; a ring of small separate shields round the orbit ; anterior labials 

 narrow, high ; temporals numerous, scale-like. Scales smooth, thin, elon- 

 gate, without apical groove, much Imbricate, in thirteen series ; those of the 

 vertebral series exceedingly large, hexagonal. Ventrals rounded, less than 

 200 in number ; anal and subcaudals simple. Teeth few In number : a long- 

 fang anteriorly in the palate and in the lower jaw. 



One species. 



Amblycephalus boa. 



Amblycephalus boa, [Kuhl) Boie, Isis, 1828, p. 1035. 



Dipsas boa, Schkff. Phys. Serp. ii. p. 284. pi. 11. figs. 29, 30. Cantor, Mai. Rept.^. 78. pi. 40. 

 fig. 3. 



Loreals three, one above the other; upper labials nine. Ventrals 152-170; subcaudals 

 88-112. Pui-plish, densely marbled and dotted with brown, and with very small rose- 

 coloured spots ; cheeks and lips carnation, with a vertical black band below the eye. 



The head of this most singular snake resembles much that of a mastiff, the lips being- 

 arched and tumid ; it climbs with great facility, frequenting the roofs of the huts of the 



