98 



brownish-yellow edging, becoming more prominent posteriorly, 

 and giving the appearance of oblique duplicate cross-bands ; lateral 

 scales black with a broad white margin ; abdominal and sub- 

 caudal scales with a black spot on the outer margin. 



The single specimen sent by Sir Wm. Macgregor, measures 

 twenty-six and a half inches, of which the head measures three- 

 fifths of an inch — to the posterior angle of the occipital shield — 

 and the tail three and nine-tenths inches, or about five and three- 

 fourths of the length of the head and body together. A second 

 example, from Somerset, Cape York, in the collection of the 

 Australian Museum, to which it was presented by Walter Powell 

 Esq., differs in no respect whatever from the specimen described 

 abo\'e, except in the comparatively longer tail, which is five and 

 two-fifths in the length of the head and body. 



The ascertained range of this seemingly uncommon species is 

 North-eastern Australia, ( G ilntliei\ fide MacyiUivray ), Cape York, 

 (Ramsay, fide Powell), and St. Joseph's River, British New 

 Guinea (Macgregor ). 



It should be noted that in the specimen described which has 

 been little more than a month in spirits, thei'e is no trace of the 

 " broad, lighter, brownish collar " mentioned by Drs. Glinther and 

 Ramsay, unless the faint chestnut tinge on the anterior temporals 

 are to be taken as an indication of it ; also that it is a very hand- 

 some snake, and certainly does not merit its specific name. 



The only points worth noting in Dr. Giinther's original descrip- 

 tion are that in neither of the specimens now examined does the 

 posterior frontal form a suture with tivo upper labials, nor are the 

 lateral margins of the vertical shield "much convergent." 



Since writing the above I have discovered in the Museum 

 Collection a third specimen forwarded by the Rev. S. Macfarlane 

 from South-east Cape, New Guinea, and measuring about thirty- 

 one inches. 



ACANTIIOPHIS. 



The principal differences which I can discern between Sir Wni. 

 Macleay's A. Icevis, and the common Austi'alian Death Adder lie 

 (1) in the slightly weaker carination of the dorsal scales in the 

 former, a character which however is plainly visible at least as far 

 as the middle of the back, both in the single .specimen forwarded 

 by Sir William Macgregor, and since returned to him, and the 

 type specimen now deposited in the Museum of the Sydney 

 University ; (2) in the mmch more pi-ominent suborbital shield ; 



(3) in the smaller number (113 - 117) of abdominal plates ; and 



(4) in the less robust hal)it of the northern form. It is stated 

 by Mr. Gerard Kretl't in his diagnosis of the genus that the 

 nostrils are pierced " between two shields," but in the examination 

 of several specimens belonging to the three described forms I can 

 find but one large nasal shield on each side, near the centre of 



