168 COLUBIlID.T<:. 



Head very distinct from neck ; eye moderate or large, with verti- 

 cally elliptic pnpil ; posterior nasal more or less deeply concave. 

 Body more or less compressed ; scales smooth, more or less oblique, 

 with apical pits, in 17-25 (31) rows, the vertebral row more or less 

 enlarged ; ventrals obtusely angulate laterally. Tail moderate or 

 long ; subcaudals in two rows. 



Tropical Africa, Southern Asia, Papuasia, Australia. 



Seven species in the Malay Peninsula. Arboreal and'nocturnal. 



Synopsis of the Species. 



I. Scales in 19 or 21 rows. 



A. Subcaudals 80-110; snout longer 



than eye. 

 Scales in 19 rows ; prpeociilar not extending 



to upper surface of head D. multimaculatus, p. 168. 



Scales in 21 rows ; piveocular not extending 



to upper surface of head I). f/oJcool, p. 169. 



Scales in 21 rows; prseocular extending to 



upper surface of head D. dendrophilus, p. 169. 



B. Subcaudals 114-166. 



Scales in 21 rows ; snout not longer than 



eye D. jaspideus, p. 170. 



Scales in 19 rows; snout not longer than 



eye Z>. drapiezii, p. 171. 



Scales in 21 rows ; snout longer than eye. . D. nigriceps, p. 171. 



II. Scales in 23 or 25 rows ; subcaudals 



11-4-169 D. cynodon, p. 172. 



182. Dipsadomorphus multimaculatus. 



Dipsas multimaculata, Boie, Isis, 1827, p. 549 ; Cantor, Journ. 



Asiat. Soc. Bengal, xvi, p. 923 (1847) ; Giinth. liept. Brit. Ind. 



p. 311 (1864) ; Bouleng. Paun. Brit. Ind., Kept. p. 360 (1890). 

 Dipsadomorphus multimaculatus, Bouleng. Cat. Sn. iii, p. 63 (1896). 



Anterior palatine teeth scarcely larger than the posterior; 

 anterior mandibular teeth moderately enlarged. Snout longer 

 than eye. Kostral bi'oader than deep ; frontal as long as broad or 

 a little longer than broad, as long as or a little longer than its 

 distance from the end of the snout, shorter than the parietals ; 

 loreal as long as deep or deeper than long; one praeocular, not 

 extending to the upper surface of the head ; 2 postoculars ; tem- 

 porals 2 + 2 or 2-|-3 (rarely 1 + 2) ; 8 upper labials, third, fourth, 

 and fifth enteriug the eye ; 4 or 5 lower labials in contact Avith 

 the anterior chin-shields, whicli are as long as or a little shorter 

 than the posterior. Scales in 19 (rarely 17) rows, vertebral row 

 strongly eidarged. Ventrals 202-285 ; anal entire ; subcaudals 

 80-106. Grey-brown above, Mith two alternating series of 



