OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 63 



much rounded at the tip. The abdominal plates are large and 

 number 150. The anal plate is single ; the siibcaudals number 

 47. The colour on the upper surface is olive brown, with a 

 narrow reddish yellow band rounded anteriorly behind the head, 

 preceded by a still narrower blackish band, and a black vertebral 

 line one scale wide along the whole length of the body from the 

 neck. The under surface is yellow, each abdominal plate having 

 a blackish margin, and the whole becoming darker towards the 

 tail. The scales of the outer or lateral row are yellow, with a 

 black mark on each side, forming two black stripes extending to 

 the tail ; the scales of the next row have each a reddish spot 

 near the base. The head is entirely yellow below the mouth, 

 above only the labial shields and small portions of the 

 anterior ocalar and other plates are yellowish. The total length 

 is 17 inches. 



The number of species of this genus now known is about 25, 

 varying in length from six feet to less than one foot, all highly 

 venomous, and, as far as my experience goes, seeming to belong 

 almost exclusively to the temperate regions of Australia. They 

 are abundant in Tasmania, Victoria, South Australia, Western 

 Australia, and New South Wales. Several species also are 

 found in Queensland, but not, I believe, north of Port Denison, 

 and I have never in the many collections of snakes I have had 

 from the Endeavour River, Cape York, and Port Darwin, seen'a 

 single example of the genus. It is stated, however, by Mr. 

 Krefft, whose work on the Snakes of Australia cannot be too 

 highly praised, that Hoplocejplmlus curtus has been found as far 

 north as the Gulf of Carpentaria. 



On the other hand the genera Diemenia and PseudecMs seem 

 to get more numerous in the tropical parts of Australia. Of the 

 four species of the latter genus described, three, P. australis, 

 scutellatus, and Barwiniensis are intra-tropical, and I have a fourth 

 species from Port Darwin of large size, over six feet long, with 

 the vertical shield more elongate and triangular than in P. JDar- 

 winiensis. 



