entering the eye; three or four lower labials in contact with 

 the anterior chin-shields; latter as long as or shorter than the 

 posterior. Scales in 15 rows; ventrals 178 — 223; anal divided; 

 subcaudals 37 — 55. 



Yellow and black above, sometimes in irregular transverse 

 bands; the black scales edged with yellow; head and tail black. 



Fig. no. Micropechis ikaheka (Less.). y<^*li. 



Lower surface yellow, sometimes some of the shields black- 

 edged. Length of head and body 1370 mm,; tail 180 mm. 



Habitat: Batanta ; New Guinea (Mafoor, Mios nom, Jobi, 

 Sorong, Fak Fak, Andai, Mt. Arfak, Mansinam, Mt. Karon, 

 Rubi, Koime river!, Humboldt Bay, Mimika and Lorentz rivers, 

 Germaniabucht, Stephansort on Astrolabe Bay, Sattelberg, 

 Haveri, Dinawa 4000 feet, Valise Island). 



71. Acanthophis Daud. 



(Daudin, Hist. Kept. V, p. 287, 1803). 



Head distinct from neck; eye small; pupil vertically elliptic; 

 nostril in the upper part of the nasal; loreal absent. Maxillary 

 teeth 2 large grooved fangs, followed by two or three small 

 teeth; anterior mandibular teeth strongly enlarged. Body stout, 

 round, covered with keeled scales without pits, in 21 or 23 

 rows; ventrals rounded. Tail short, compressed posteriorly and 

 ending in a long spine, directed upwards; anterior subcaudals 

 single, posterior in two rows. 



Distribution. Borneo; Moluccas; New Guinea; Australia. 



A single species. 



