DEXDROPHIS. 145. 



Genus DENDROPHIS. 



Boie, Isis, 1827, p. 520. 



Maxillary teeth 20 to 33, the posterior more or less enlargecTy 

 stouter if not longer than the rest ; anterior mandibular teeth 

 longest. Head more or less elongate, distinct from neck ; eya 

 large, with round pupil. Body elongate, more or less compressed 7. 

 scales smooth, in (13 or) 15 rows, narrow, disposed obliquely, with, 

 apical pits, those of the vertebral row more or less enlarged ;, 

 ventrals with a suture-like lateral keel aud a notch on each side,, 

 corresponding to the keel. Tail long ; subcaudals in two rows,, 

 keeled and notched like the ventrals. 



South-Eastern Asia, Papuasia, and Australia. 



Two species in the Malay Peninsula : — 



Eye as long as its distance from the nostril ; 



2 postoculars D. jyictns, p. 145. 



Eye longer than its distance from the nostril ; 



3 (rarely 2 or 4) postoculars D, fonnosus, p. 146. 



154. Dendrophis pictus. 



Coluber pictus, Guiel. Syst. Nat. i, p. 1116 (1788). 



Leptophis pictus, Cantor, Jonrn. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, xvi, p. 930 



(1847). 

 Dendmphis pictus, Giintli. Kept. Brit. Ind. p. 297 (1864) ; Bouleng. 



Faun. Brit. Ind., Kept. p. 337 (1890) ; id. Cat. Sn. ii, p. 78 



(1893); S. Flower, P. Z. S. 1899, p. 609; Wall, Journ. Nat. 



Hist. Soc. Bombay, xix, p. 787, pi. xii (1910). 



E\'^e as long as its distance from the nostril. Eostral much 

 broader than deep; internasals as long as or a little shorter than 

 the praefrontals ; frontal ]l to 1|^ times as long as broad, as long 

 as its distance from the x'ostral or the end of the snout, shorter 

 than the parietals ; loi-eal elongate (rarely absent) ; one prae- and 

 two postoculars; temporals 2 + 2, rarely 1 + 1 or 1 + 2; 9 upper 

 labials, fifth and sixth, or fourth, fifth, and sixth, entering 

 the eye, rarely 7 or 8 ; 5, rarely 4, lower labials in contact with 

 the anterior chin-shields, which are shorter than the posterior. 

 Scales in 15 rows, vertebral s nearly as large as outer. Ventrals 

 156-204; anal divided; subcaudals 119-164. Olive or bronze- 

 brown above ; a black stripe on each side of the head, passing 

 through the eye, usually very strongly marked on the temple and 

 extending to the nape, where it may widen or break up into spots, 

 separated by diagonal bands of rich blue-green ; a whitish or yellow 

 lateral stripe, bordered below by a dark stripe along the limit 

 between the lower row of scales and the ventral shields ; lower 

 parts white, yellowish, or greenish. 

 Total length 1180 millim. ; tail 440. 



L 



