97 



eleventli to thirteenth lower labials with a brown spot ; rest of 

 the head bi-own above, pale yellow beneath, as is also the ground 

 color of the body and tail ; body with sixty-two irregular and 

 greatly interrupted transverse dark-1.)rown bands, twice or thrice 

 as broad as the interspaces, and frequently broken up into large 

 irregularly-shaped spots ; abdominal shields ornamented with 

 scattered small paler brown spots, which become more accentuated 

 posteriorly ; tail with sixteen much more regular transverse bands 

 and the sub-caudal plates with a narrow sutural dark-brown band. 

 The larger specimen of the two examined is a rather i-oughly 

 prepared skin measuring four feet ten inches, of wliich the tail is 

 about ten inches ; the smaller specimen measures twenty-two 

 inches, the tail being slightly over three inches. 



Brachysoma triste. 



Glyphodon tristis, Gnth., Brit. JIus. Catal. Colubr. /Snakes, p. 

 211 (1858). 

 Scales in seventeen series ; abdominal plates one-hundred and 

 seventy-one to one hundred and seventy-nine ; anal plate double ; 

 sub caudal plates in two rows, forty-live to fifty-two in each. 

 Body moderately elongate and cylindrical ; head small, depressed, 

 scarcely distinct from the neck ; tail of moderate length, slightly 

 compressed especially posteriorly, and terminating in an elongate 

 blunt pointed scale ; muzzle short, broad, and ohtuse ; eye very 

 small, looking outward and partially upward, the pupil round. 

 Nostril pierced between two nasals, the posterior small ; rostral 

 more than twice as broad as high, rounded or very obtusely angular 

 above ; anterior frontals small, posterior large, sharply bent 

 downward on the side of the head so as to form a broad suture 

 with the second upper laljial, and thus replace the loreal ; vertical 

 hexagonal, one-third longer than broad, obtusely angular anteriorly 

 and rather less than rectangular posteriorly, the lateral margins 

 very slightly convergent ; occipitals much longer than the vertical 

 and equally, or less, broad, their length twice their breadth, 

 angular behind ; a rather small supraciliary ; a single preocular 

 entering the upper half of the eye only, the lower half being 

 margined by the large third upper labial ; two small, equal-sized 

 postoculars ; four series of temporal shields, the anterior pair not 

 much larger than the others, the upper in contact with both post- 

 oculars, the lower partially dividing the two posterior upper 

 labials ; six upper labials, the third and fourth entering the eye ; 

 six lower labials, the first forming a broad suture behind the tri- 

 angular mental ; two pairs of elongated chin-shields. Colors — 

 Upper surface of head brown, the sides with a tinge of chestnut, 

 especially on the anterior temporal region ; sometimes with a 

 broad light brown collar behind the occipitals ; lower surface pale 

 brown, gradually shading into the dirty yellow of the abdominal 

 region ■ dorsal scales nearly black, all the scales with a iiarrow 



