REPTILES FHOM NEW GUINEA. 255 



we regard this last characteristic as a specific one , then 

 these latter specimens cannot be arranged under the species 

 S. cucullatus , but ought to represent a new species, which 

 should be related to S. cucullatus in the same manner as 

 S. modestus is related to S. reticulatus. In the view of 

 gaining some information as to the importance of this 

 characteristic as a specific one, I inspected the specimens 

 of Stegonotus in our collections , viz. : 



the typical specimen of Stegonotus modestus Schl. from 

 Amboina ; 



two typical specimens of S, lividus D. & B. from the 

 island of Samao (E. of Timor); 



one specimen from the island of Boeroe ; 



two specimens from the island of Mefoor (N. of the 

 Geelvinksbaai). 



These two latter specimens, from the island of Mefoor, 

 have the rostral a little broader than deep, the portion 

 visible from above */. of its distance from the frontal and 

 therefore belong to the group of *S. cucullatus. In one of 

 these specimens the third and fourth upper labial on the 

 right side enter the eye, whilst on the left the fourth and 

 fifth upper labial are in contact with the eye; in the second 

 specimen just the contrary is to be seen, the fourth and 

 fifth labial on the right and the third and fourth on the 

 left side entering the eye. This proves that in these 

 specimens it is of no great importance whether the third 

 and fourth , or the fourth and fifth upper labial are in 

 contact with the eye, and so those specimens, together 

 with the two specimens from Astrolabe bay, must be 

 arranged under the same species with (S. cucullatus , which 

 species only differs from S. modestus in the form of the 

 rostral shield. 



In the collections of the Ley den Museum the Stegonotus- 

 species with the rostral much broader than deep are now 

 represented by 5 specimens , viz. : 



the typical specimen of S. modestus from Amboina; 



one specimen from Boeroe ; 



Notes from the Lieyden Mnseum, Vol. XVIIl. 



