238 OPHIDIA. 



Coluber eufodoesatus. (Plate XX. fig. G.) 



Tropidonotus rufo-dorsatus, Cantor, Ann. &; Mag. Nat, Hist. 1842, ix. p. 483. 

 Ablabes sex-lineatus, Dum. ^ Bibr. vii. p. 324. 

 Coluber rufo-dorsatus, Giinth. Colubr. Snakes, p. 89. 



Body and tail stout ; head rather short, high, scarcely distinct from neck ; snout obtusely 

 pointed, with a sharpish canthus rostralis. Eostral broader than high ; anterior frontals 

 small, triangular, pointed in front. Vertical not twice as long as broad, with the lateral 

 margins but little convergent, and with a right angle behind ; occipitals of moderate length 

 and width, rather rounded behind. One prseocular, extending to the upper surface of the 

 head ; two postoculars. Seven upper labials, the third and fourth entering the orbit. Tem- 

 porals varying in form and number. Scales smooth, with an indistinct apical groove, in 

 twenty-one rows. Ventrals 174-178; anal bifid; subcaudals 50-52 in males as well as in 

 females. Each maxillary with fifteen teeth, which gradually become rather larger behind. 

 Upper parts brownish grey, with four series of oblong, irregular, brown, black-edged spots, 

 the spots of each series being confluent in the middle of the trunk, and forming four bands 

 continued to the tip of the tail ; head with three A-like bands : the anterior across the pos- 

 terior frontals, running through the eye to the angle of the mouth, and passing into the 

 lateral series of spots ; the second crosses the vertical and the occipitals ; the third is in the 

 occipital suture. A series of black spots along the edge of the abdomen ; belly wdth more 

 or less numerous and confluent subquadrangular black spots. 



This species is found in China (Ningpo, Chikiang) and in the islands of Chusan and For- 

 mosa. An adult male and female measured 19 inches, the tail of both being 3 inches. I 

 found a frog in the stomach of one. 



Two views of the head, of its natural size, are given on Plate XX. 



Coluber mandarinus. (Plate XX. fig. H.) 



Coluber mandarinus, Cantor, Ann. ^ Mag. Nat. Hist. 1842, ix. p. 483. 



Body and tail of moderate length ; head rather narrow, oblong, scarcely distinct from neck ; 

 snout subtruncated. Rostral shield nearly twice as broad as high ; anterior frontals qua- 

 drangular, broader than long, with the anterior margin not much shorter than the posterior. 

 Vertical five-sided, broader than long, with the lateral margins convergent, and with a rather 

 acute angle behind. Occipitals of moderate length and width, rounded behind. Loreal 

 small; prseocular just reaching to the upper surface of the head; two postoculars. Seven 

 upper labials, the third and fourth entering the orbit. Temporals 1 + 3. The anterior chin- 

 shields in contact with four lower labials. Scales smooth, with an indistinct apical groove, 

 in twenty-three rows. Ventrals not keeled, extending a little up the sides, 222 ; anal bifid ; 

 subcaudals 62. Each maxillary is armed with fifteen teeth equal in size. Scarlet above 

 (brownish olive in spirits), with a dorsal series of about forty-four lozenge-shaped black spots, 



