94 HERPETOLOGICAL NOTES. 



Colour (spirits) : — Dark olive or black above, all the 

 scales with minute punctations of olive grey. Head black, 

 uniform or covered with grey speckles most profuse on 

 the sides and lips where the black ground colour is 

 proportionately at a minimum ; sometimes a dark streak 

 on the canthus. A curved yellowish nuchal collar. Chin 

 and throat blackish, speckled with grey. Ventrals 

 yellowish, not black bordered, but dark and light spotted 

 on the outer ends. Under-surface of tail darker than body. 



Total length of type 1 55 mm. 



Length of tail . . . . . . . . 30 mm. 



Localities : — Three specimens which, although very 

 small, do not apj)ear to be young snakes. One was collected 

 and presented to the Trustees by Mr. Thos. Steel, F.L.S., 

 and comes from Wilde's Meadow, near Moss Vale, eighty 

 miles south of Sydney, New South Wales ; another was 

 presented bj^ Mr. A. H. S. Lucas, M. A., and is from one of two 

 localities, Tamworth or Guntawang, but the donor is not 

 certain which ; the third is from Colo Vale, south of Sydney, 

 New South Wales, presented by Mr. J. Summers. 



Type :■ — In the Australian Museum, Sydney, Reg. No. 

 R.3971. 



This species is probably one of the smallest snakes 

 known. It appears to be adult or very nearly so when 

 six inches long. It is allied to P. krefftii, Gthr., from 

 which it differs in the temporals being 2 + 2, the narrower 

 frontal, greater number of sub-caudals, entire anal shield, 

 and colouration. The following is a key to the species 

 of the genus Pseudelaps : — 



A. Nasal in contact with or narrowly separated from the prseocular. 

 B. Nasal Shield divided. 



Temporals 2+ 2. P. mulleri, Scheg. 



Temporals 1+2. P. squamulosKS, D. & B. 



B.B. Nasal shield entire. 



C. Temporals 2+2. Sub-caudals 51-59. Anal entire. 

 A yellow occipital mark. P. yninutus, Fiy. 

 C.C. Temporals 1+2. Sub-caudals, 26-38. Anal divided. 

 Ventrals 146-156. P. krefftii, Gthr. 



Ventrals 167-172. P. fordii, Krefft. 



Ventrals 176-193. P. harriettoe, Krefft. 



A.A. Nasal widely separated from the ])raeocular. Temporals 2+ 2. 



Scales in 15 rows. P. diadema, Schleg. 



Scales in 17 rows. P. christieanus. Fry. 



