Zoology.'] NATURAL HISTORY OF VICTORIA. [Reptiles. 



Plate 1. 



PSEUDECHYS PORPHYRIACUS (Shaw sp.). 



The Black Snake. 



[Genus PSEUDECHYS (Waglee). (Sub-kingd. Vertebrata. Class Reptilia. Order 

 Ophidia. Fam. Elapida;.) 



Gen. Char. — Body and tail moderately elongate, gradually tapering. Head subquadrate, 

 flattened above and at the sides, obtusely rounded in front, little wider than the neck behind ; 

 no loreal plate ; one anterior ocular plate forms the front margin of the orbit, and two posterior 

 oculars its hind edge ; two nasal plates with the nostril between them ; scales of the back flat, 

 smooth, in about 17 rows ; anal plate double, a variable number of the anterior subcaudal 

 plates in one row, behind which they form two rows. Confined to Australia.] 



Description. — Scales of back in 17 rows; abdominal plates about 180 ; sing-le 

 row of anterior subcaudals about 12, posterior ones in two rows of about 40 each ; 

 color of head, back, and tail, purplish-black or dark-slate color ; the lateral row 

 of body scales on each side and the abdominal plates rich carmine-lake red, with 

 hind tips and edg'es blackish ; the under side of head and the under side of the tail 

 lighter than the back. Length of body about 5 feet, tail about 6 inches, head or 

 gape about 1 inch. 



Reference. — Coluber porphyriacus (Shaw), Gen. Zool. v. 3, t. 110. Pseu- 

 dechys id. Wagler Syst. Amphib. p. 171. 



This is the most beautiful of all the Victorian snakes, and one 

 of the most deadly in the effects of its bite. It is, however, for- 

 tunately much rarer in Victoria than in the warmer more 

 northern colonies of Australia ; and although not uncommon near 

 the northern Murray boundary it is seldom found in the cooler 

 southern districts, and is not known at all in Tasmania. The only 

 locality near INIelliourne where it is not very uncommon is Studley 

 Park, where in the bend of the Yarra the specimen here figm-ed 

 and some others I have seen were killed. 



Like the other genera of the family Elapidce., the poison-fang 

 in Pseudechys is grooved on the front face for the duct of the 

 poison gland, which opens near the point, and, as in the family 

 generally, there are a few small harmless solid teeth behind the 

 fang in the upper jaw, besides two rows on the palate, and the 

 usual row of small hooked solid teeth on the lower jaws. The 

 anterior series of subcaudal scales being in one row, and the 

 posterior ones in two roMS, is a character readily separatmg the 



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