COPHIAS WAGLERT. 45 



vered with scales of a pure yellow color, stretching from 

 the tip of the snout till behind the angle of the mouth. 

 The labialia are pure yellow , often with narrow black 

 edges. The under surface of the head is covered with yel- 

 low or greenish-yellow scales , sometimes edged with black. 



The black margins on the scales of the body decrease in 

 passing from the back to the sides, so that the lower sur- 

 face shows the brightest coloration. The yellow cross-bands , 

 in number from 30 — 35 on each side of the body, meet 

 each other on the back in the foremost and hindmost part, 

 but are placed alternatively in the middle of the body. 

 They are as large as one scale and reach in some speci- 

 mens till on the ventralia, forming there a dark yellow spot. 



The ventralia are of a greenish-yellow color, sometimes 

 spotted with yellow , sometimes of a pure yellow. Poste- 

 riorly they are always edged with black, but this black 

 margin is often interrupted and composed of 2 black lines. 



The root of the tail shows on each side about 7 yellow 

 cross-bands placed alternatively; the end of the tail is black. 



In the collection of the Leyden Museum there are 9 spe- 

 cimens of B. Wagleri showing the foregoing coloration. 

 The largest one attains to a length of 102 c. m. the small- 

 est one only measures 59 c. m. Two of them 80 and 82 

 c. m. in length were captured in the island of Banka , of 

 the large one the locality is unknown, whilst the rest are 

 originate from the island of Sumatra- 

 Two of these Sumatrau specimens, attaining to a length 

 of only 02 and 73 c. m. contained full-grown embryos. 



Between the coloration of these embryos and that of the 

 adult exists a very great difference. 



All these young ones are of a nearly uniform green co- 

 lor, with a greenish-yellow ventral side and a reddish tail. 

 The line on the canthus rostralis in these specimens (pre- 

 served in spirits) is white with a brownish color beneath 

 the white line (according to Günther the color of this 

 streak in living specimens is cinnamon red with a buff 

 line). On each side of the body there is a series of 80 to 



Notes from the Leyden IMuseum , "Vol. "VIII. 



