BY WILLIAM MACLEAY, F.L.S., &C. 549 



DlEMENIA ATRA. 



Ventral plates.... 180 



Sub-caudal 68/68 



Anal 2 



Scales in 15 rows. 



Total length 40 inches. 



Tail 9 inches. 



Head 1 inch. 



Body rather slender, the neck not narrower than the head, the 

 tail very slender. The posterior nasal shield of triangular form, 

 meeting the anterior ocular, which is very large, and completely 

 separating the frontal from the labial shields ; the inferior of the 

 two posterior oculars is the longest ; the third and fourth labials 

 abut on the eye. 



Colour jet black on the upper surface, and leaden black on the 

 belly ; the labial shields, the under surface of the head, and the 

 first three or four ventral plates are yellowish ; the tail is red 

 towards the tip. 



The other Snakes in Mr. Boyd's collection were Liasis amythy- 

 stinus, Tropidonotus picturatus, Dendrophis bilorealis, Pseudechis 

 porphyriacus, and Hoplocephahis nigrescens. 



Of Dendrophis bilorealis I received several specimens, and an 

 examination of them has shown that the name I have given to the 

 species on account of the divided or double loreal shields is rather 

 unfortunate, as the peculiarity is not by any means constant. 



I subjoin a list of all the known Australian Snakes. Since the 

 publication of Krefft's " Snakes of Australia," in 1869, many 

 additions have been made to the Fauna but no attempt has, as far 

 as I know, been made to revise the list. I believe, therefore, that 

 the present census will be found useful to all who take an interest 

 in the Herpetology of the country. 



