268 



lowish, uniform or speckled with olive; throat and anterior 

 ventrals spotted with black in the young; tail yellow or red. 

 Length of head and body 770 mm.; tail 240 mm. 



Type-specimen examined in the British Museum. 



Habitat: New Guinea (Yule Island). — Australia!. 



69. Pseudechis Wagler. 



(Wagler, Syst. Amph. p. 171, 1830). 



Head distinct from neck; eye moderate or small ; pupil round ; 

 canthus rostralis distinct; nostril between two nasals; loreal 

 absent. Maxillary teeth 2 large, grooved fangs followed by 

 2 — 5 small solid teeth; anterior mandibular teeth longest. Body 

 round, covered with smooth scales without pits, in 17 — 23 

 rows, more on the neck; ventrals rounded. Tail moderate; 

 subcaudals in two rows or partly single, partly in two rows. 



Distribution. New Guinea ; Australia. 



Key to the Indo-Australian species. 



A, Anal divided 5 anterior subcaudals single. 



I. Scales in 17 rows i. F. australis p. 268. 



II. Scales in 19 or 21 rows 2. /'. papuanus p. 269. 



B. Anal entire; subcaudals in two rows; scales in 23 rows. 3. P. scittellatus p. 269. 



I. Pseudechis australis (Gray). 



Naja australis^ Gray, Zool. Misc. 1842, p. 55. 



Pseudechis aiis/ralis^ Boulenger, Cat. Sn. Ill 1896, p. 330. 



Eye small, almost as large as its distance from the mouth. 

 Rostral more broad than 

 deep, visible from above; 

 posterior nasal in contact 

 with the praeocular; inter- 

 nasals half as long as the 

 praefrontals; frontal small, 

 as long as its distance 

 from the rostral, much 

 smaller than the parietals; 

 one prae- and two post- 

 oculars; temporals 2 + 2, ^.^ ^^^ Pseudechis australis (Gray). 



lower anterior wedged in upper view of head. 



between the fifth and 



sixth labials; six upper labials, third and fourth entering the 



