202 OPHIDIA. 



ASPIDURA, Wagler. 



Body rather stout or moderately slender ; head more or less narrow, not 

 distinct from neck ; eye small, with round pii])il ; tail rather short ; a single 

 anterior frontal, two posterior ; two very small nasals ; loreal none, united 

 with the frontal ; one anterior ocular, sometimes united with frontal, two 

 postoculars ; six (five) labials. Scales smooth, in fifteen or seventeen series, 

 those near the vent sometimes keeled or tubercular ; anal and subcaudals 

 entire. Teeth equal. 



The snakes of this genus are peculiar to Ceylon, and may be readily distinguished by their 

 smooth scales, single anterior frontal, and entire subcaudal shields. 



Three species may be distinguished : — 



Scales in seventeen rows ; prseorbital present .... A. brachyorrhos. 



Scales in seventeen rows ; prseorbital none A. copii. 



Scales in fifteen rows A. trachyprocta. 



ASPIDURA BEACHTOREHOS. 



Scytale brachyorrhos, Boie, Isis, 1827, p. 517. 

 Aspidura brachyorrhos, Wagl. Syst. Amph. p. 191. 

 Calamaria scytale, Schleg. Phys. Serp. ii. p. 42. 



The postfrontal does not enter the orbit at all, and is in contact with the second and third 

 labials ; prseorbital well developed, in contact with the superciliary ; the lower postorbital 

 larger than the upper; six upper labials. Two pairs of chin-shields: the anterior large, 

 about thrice as long as broad ; the posterior small, scale-like, without intermediate azygos 

 scale ; six lower labials, the four anterior of which are in contact with the anterior chin- 

 shield. Scales in seventeen rows, all perfectly smooth. Ventral shields 148-154 ; subcaudals 

 •30-32. The circumference of the body is one-fourteenth of the total length, the length of 

 the tail one-eighth. Yellowish olive, with four indistinct darker longitudinal bands and 

 with a vertebral series of black dots ; an oblique black band on each side of the neck ; belly 

 uniform white. 



Eather common; 14-15 inches long. 



