16 L. G. ANDERSSON, SOME NEW SPECIES OF SNAKES. 



small and forming an uninterrupted series. Head scarcely 

 distinct from neck; eye small, half the length of its distance 

 to the tip of the snout, with vertically subelliptic pupil. 

 Snöat eonical, not depressed. E-ostral broader than high, well 

 visible from above. Two internasals and two prsefrontals, 

 the snture between the former considerably shorter than that 

 between the latter. No loreal, prsefrontal in contact with 

 second labial. Nostril between two nasals, the anterior of 

 which is expanded in front and wedged in between the 

 rostral and the first upper labial. A single preeocular, not 

 reaching the frontal, which is very broad, nearly as broad 

 as long, as long as its distance to the tip of the snout, but 

 shorter than the pärietals. The supraoculars narrow, ex- 

 panded behind. Two postoculars; teraporals 2 + 2. Upper 

 labials six; third and fonrth entering the eye; six or se ven 

 lower labials, four of which are in contact with the anterior 

 chinshields, which are considerably larger than the posterior. 

 Body stout, cylindrical; scales in 17 rows, smooth, without 

 apical pits. Ventral shields 153 — 157; anal entire. Tail mo- 

 derate, tapering in an acute point, with 63—67 pairs of sub- 

 caudals. 



As mentioned above the colour is bleached. The whole 

 snakes are yellowish-white except the upper surface of the 

 head and a broad band on the neck behind the occiput, which 

 are brown. Possibly, a few brown blotches on the back are 

 a relict of other dark cross-bars, now discoloured. A speci- 

 men of Oxyrhopus petolarius, also bleached, and preserved 

 from the same time, is very similar in colour to these snakes, 

 wherefore it is possible that the colour of this Ärrhyton-s-pe- 

 cies corresponds with that of OxyrJiopus petolariiis with its 

 alternating dark and light cross-bars. 



As mentioned above there is no statement given about 

 the patria of these snakes neither when or how they came to 

 the museum, but probably they have as also their nearest 

 relations come from the West India, where this form, howe- 

 ver, must be very rare, considering the fact that no more 

 than these specimens seem to have been met with. It seems 

 stränge that the species has not been obtained and described 

 during all the scientific explorations of the nineteenth cen- 

 tury but, as far as I can see, this is the case. Although 

 many trials I have still not succeeded in identifying this 



