HERPETOREAS SIEBOLDII. 257 



Zaocts nigromarginatus. (Plate XXII. fig. B.) 



Coluber nigromarginatus, Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. xxiii. p. 290. 



Coryphodon carinatus, var., Giinfh. Colubr. Snakes, p. 113, and Proc. Zool. Soc. 1860, p. 167. 



Occipitals obliquely truncated behind ; loreal simple, rather longer than high ; eight upper 

 labials, the fourth and fifth entering the orbit; temporals 2+2, the two anterior in contact 

 with the oculars. Scales elongate, acutely pointed, in sixteen rows, those of the four middle 

 series keeled; the others with two apical grooves. Ventralsl93; anal bifid; subcaudals 

 126-134. Each maxillary is armed with from eighteen to twenty teeth, which gradually 

 become somewhat stronger posteriorly. Green, paler below; two broad deep-black bands 

 along each side of the tail, advancing forwards on the trunk to its middle third in adult 

 specimens, and nearly to the head in young ones ; the two upper bands are separated from 

 each other by the joining halves of the two vertebral series. 



We have received this species from Nepal, Sikkim, and Khasya; it belongs to the fauna 

 of the temperate zone of the Himalayas, reaching an altitude of 7100 feet above the sea; 

 our largest specimen is 8 feet long, the tail measuring 27 inches. 



We have given a lateral view of the head, and one of a portion of the trunk, to show the 

 carination of the dorsal scales. 



HERPETOREAS, Gthr. 



Body and tail slender, compressed ; trunk with more than 200 ventral 

 shields ; head somewhat elongate, rounded in front, flat above ; eye of 

 moderate size, with round pupil ; nostril lateral, between two shields. 

 Shields of the head regular : loreal present ; one anterior, two posterior 

 oculars. Scales moderately elongate, slightly keeled, in nineteen rows ; 

 ventrals strongly bent up the sides; anal bifid. The posterior maxillary 

 tooth is the longest, in a continuous series with the anterior ones. 



Only one species is known. 



HeRPETOREAS SIEBOLDII. 



Herpetoreas sieboldii, Gunth. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1860, p. 156. 



The rostral shield is broader than high, and rounded superiorly ; the anterior frontals are 

 pentagonal, one-half the size of the posterior, which are bent downwards on the side of the 



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