DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SNAKE BELONGING TO 

 THE GENUS HOP LOCEPH ALUS. 



By J. Douglas Ogilby, F.L.S. 



HOPLOCEPHALUS FRONTALIS, Sp.nov. 



Scales in nineteen rows ; abdominal plates 154 ; anal plate 

 undivided ; sub-caudal plates 30. Body elongate and rounded, 

 tail short, terminating in a strong spinate scale ; head small, but 

 little distinct from the trunk ; muzzle short, broad, and rounded ; 

 eye small, the pupil sub-elliptical. Rostral shield twice as broad 

 as high, rounded above, and slightly bent backward between the 

 anterior frontals, which are of moderate size and broader than 

 long; posterior frontals much larger, as broad as long, obtusely 

 angulate posteriorly, and hent downwards on the side of the head 

 so much so as to form a broad suitor e with the second iq^per labial ; 

 nasal shield triangular, small ; vertical hexagonal, rather longer 

 than broad, with the outer margins slightly convergent behind, 

 the anterior angle very obtuse, and the posterior rounded ; supra 

 ciliary large ; occipitals large, rounded posteriorly ; one anterior 

 ocular, just reaching to the upper surface of the bead; two posterior 

 oculars, the lower of which is the larger ; temporal shields in two 

 series, the lower shield of the anterior series in contact with both 

 post-oculars ; six upper labials, the third and fourth bordering the 

 eye ; mental shield acutely angulated posteriorly ; anterior chin 

 shields rather larger than the posterior; many small scales between 

 the chin shields and the first abdominal plate. Four small teeth 

 behind the poison-fang. Light brown above each of the scales 

 narrowly margined with black, so as to give the appearance of 

 network ; a broad black nuchal collar, extending forwards over 

 portions of the upper labials, temporals, and the lower posterior 

 ocular to the eye ; a black spot in front of the eye on the upper 



