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DESCRIPTION OF A NEW AUSTRALIAN SNAKE. 



By J. Douglas Ogilby. 

 (Communicated hy Edgar R. Waite, F.L.S.) 



HOPLOCEPHALUS WAITII, Sp.nov. 



Head broad and depressed, distinct from trunk ; pupil round. 

 Rostral very little broader than deep, visible from above ; frontal 

 longer than broad, equal to or a little longer than its distance 

 from the end of the snout, but little shorter than the parietals ; 

 one pre- and two postoculars ; temporals 2 + 2, the posterior pair 

 small ; upper labials 6, the third and fourth entering the eye ; 

 two pairs of chin-shields, the anterior the larger, in contact with 

 three, rarely two, labials, the posterior pair wholly separated by 

 two elongate scales. Scales in 21 series, the outer rows scarcely 

 enlarged ; ventrals sharply keeled laterally, 210-223 ; anal plate 

 entire ; subcaudals in a single series, 47-57. 



Colours. — Head above bluish-gray; prefrontals with a yellowish 

 tinge, and with a black spot covering their posterior half ; a small 

 black spot above the eye; a large spot at the inner anterior angle 

 of the parietals followed by a smaller one ; a broad white band 

 behind the head, continued forwards to the eye; an elongate black 

 spot behind the parietals, and two spots on either side of them ; 

 a black streak from the eye to the nostril ; upper and lower 

 labials obliquely banded with black and white ; a black nuchal 

 band extending forwards to the angle of the mouth; lower surface 

 of head white, with scattered white spots : entire upper surface of 

 body uniform dark brown; lower surface grayish-brown, becoming 

 darker posteriorly, that of the tail similar to the back. 



