320 OPHIDIA. 



TETRAGONOSOMA, Gthr. 



Body and tail of moderate length, compressed, with rounded back and 

 angular belly. Head depressed, of moderate length, with rounded snout, 

 distinct from neck. Ventrals more than 200, angularly bent on each side. 

 Nostril between two shields. Shields of the head regular : loreal none, 

 replaced by posterior frontal ; one ante-, three (two) post-ocidars. Scales 

 smooth, without apical groove, in seventeen rows. Subcaudals two-rowed. 

 Pupil elliptical, erect. Maxillary with one of the anterior teeth (third) en- 

 larged, there being a toothless space behind it ; palatine teeth not enlarged ; 

 mandible with a fang- in front. 



Body with broad buff-coloured rings T. ejfrene. 



Body marbled with white and black T. atropurpureum. 



Tetragonosoma effeene. (Plate XXIV. fig. K.) 



Lycodon effrsenis, Cantor, Mai. Rept. p. 70. fig. 2 (not good). 



Tetragonosoma effrene, Gunth. Colubr. Snakes, p. 253. 



Lycodon ophiteoides, Bleek. Nat. Tydschr. Nederl. Lid. x\i. p. 436. 



Rostral shield much broader than high, scarcely extending to the upper surface of the 

 head ; anterior frontals nearly square, one-fourth the size of posterior ; posterior frontals bent 

 downwards on the sides, in contact with the second and third labials, as broad as lonsr. 

 Vertical rather elongate ; occipitals rounded, and not separated by a notch behind. One 

 prfpocular, just reaching to the upper surface of the head ; three postoculars, the lower of 

 which is sometimes confluent with the fifth labial. Nine upper labials, the third, fourth, 

 and fifth of which enter the orbit, the four posterior very small. Temporals numerous, 

 scale-like. Ventrals 215-228; anal entire; subcaudals 72-101. Black above and below; 

 throat, lips, and a band along each side of the upper part of the head buff"-coloured. Eleven 

 distant rings of the same colour encircle body and tail in the young, but the posterior become 

 indistinct with age, so that only the three or four anterior remain visible. 



The typical specimen was found on the Great Hill of Pinang ; it is 12^ inches long, the 

 tail measuring 2.\ inches. We have seen only one other specimen, the type of Lycodon 

 ophiteoides of Bleeker ; this is from Sinkawang (Borneo), and is 27 inches long, the tail mea- 

 suring 6^ inches. We have given two views of the head of the Pinang specimen, of the 

 natural size. 



