140 REPTILES. 



Description. — Habit moderate; head rather short, quadran- 

 gular, obtuse in front ; eye large. Rostral shield spheroid, 

 reaching the surface of head ; anterior frontals small, obtuse in 

 front, posterior ones moderate, somewhat rounded behind ; ver- 

 tical elongate, nearly three times as long as broad, with nearly 

 parallel outer edges and a right angle behind ; occipitals small, 

 not deeply forked ; superciliaries well developed, prominent above 

 the eye ; anterior ocular grooved before the eye, and just reach- 

 ing the vertical in one specimen, in the other not quite extend- 

 ing to it ; two posterior oculars, one square loreal, two large 

 nasals ; nostril between ; seven upper labials, third and fourth 

 forming the lower edge of eye ; one temporal shield in contact 

 with both oculars, some smaller ones behind. Scales smooth, 

 not grooved, rather elongate, becoming gradually larger towards 

 the belly, in nineteen rows; anal bifid. Posterior maxillary 

 tooth longest, channeled, anterior ones equal in length. Uni- 

 form olive above, scales with whitish narrow outer edges ; skin 

 between the scales, and posteriorly the scales at the base, black ; 

 beneath uniform whitish. Length of cleft of mouth 1" ; length 

 of tail 8"; total length 41". 



4. PsAMMODYNASTES, Gunther. 



Body and tail stout; head short, high ; crown flat, not rounded ; 

 snout pointed in front, short ; lips swollen ; frontals small, pos- 

 terior ones rounded behind ; vertical shield long, narrow ; one 

 short loreal (sometimes divided into two or three) ; one nasal, 

 pierced by the nostril ; one (exceptionally two) anterior, two pos- 

 terior oculars. Scales rather short, rhomboid, smooth, in seven- 

 teen rows ; anal entu'C ; pupil elliptic, erect. Anterior maxillary 

 teeth very long, smooth ; posterior one long, channeled ; middle 

 ones and palatine teeth small, equal; anterior teeth of lower jaw 

 longer than the hinder ones. East Indies. 



Psammophis, sp., Boie, Isis, 1827, p- 547 ; Schley. Ess. ii. 

 p. 211 ; Dum. 4' Bibr. p. 895. 



I. PSAMMODYNASTES PULVERULENTUS. 



Psammophis pulverulenta, Boie, Isis, 1827, p. 547 ; Sckleg. 

 Ess. t. 8. f. 10, 11, 4- Ahhildg. t. 43. f. 1-4 ; Dum. Sf Bibr.^. 895. 



Head above with symmetrical black longitudinal marks. 

 Brown, marbled with black, with indistinct black longitudinal 

 bands; beneath yellowish or brown, marbled with purple, some- 

 times with two minutely punctated longitudinal bands. Some- 

 times nearly uniform black. 

 a. Adult. Philippine Islands. From Mr. Cuming's Collection. 



