THE COLUBRINE SNAKES 2589 



Among the deadliest of Australian snakes is the purplish death ad- 

 der {Pseudechis porphyriaca) , alone representing a genus characterized 

 by the great elongation and slenderness of the cylindrical body, the sharply-pointed 

 tail, the small head, imperfectly differentiated from the neck and clothed with large 

 shields, the smooth scales, arranged in from seventeen to twenty-three rows, the di- 

 vided anal shield, and the arrangement of the shields on the under surface of the 

 tail at first in a single, and posteriorly in a double series. Behind the fangs are one 

 or two solid teeth in the upper jaw; the pupil of the eye is round, and the neck can- 

 not be dilated. This snake, which grows to a length of about seven feet, is very 

 variable in coloration. Generally, however, the color of the back varies from a 

 shining purplish black to dark olive brown, the under parts being red, and the sides 

 carmine; but the latter colors not occupying the centres of the scales, which are 

 black, as are the hinder borders of the shields of the under surface. Generally 

 known to the settlers by the name of the black snake, this reptile is dreaded alike 

 by natives and Europeans, although, fortunately, it nearly always endeavors to es- 

 cape when discovered. The short death adder (Hoplicephalus curtus] , represented 

 in the upper figure of the illustration on p. 2588, is selected as a well-known exam- 

 ple of a second Australian genus, which includes a large number of species. 

 Closely resembling the harmless snakes in general appearance, these death adders 

 are distinguished from the other members of this group by the presence in the up- 

 per jaw of a row of small, curved, solid teeth behind the fangs. The head is unsym- 

 metrically four sided, flattened, and rounded at the muzzle, the body massive, and 

 the tail either moderate or short. The smooth and equal-sized scales are arranged 

 in from fifteen to twenty-one rows, those on the middle of the back not being larger 

 than the rest, and there is but a single row of shields on the under surface of the 

 tail. All these species are peculiar in the group for producing living young. 

 The figured species, which varies from three to four feet in length, has a short tail 

 and nineteen rows of scales. Although very variable as regards coloration, the 

 head is generally uniform black, the body olive color, with broad brown or black 

 cross bands, the hinder part of the body and the upper surface of the tail uniformly 

 blackish, and the whole of the under parts light yellow. Some specimens have, 

 however, no dark bands on the back. The spine-tailed death adder (Acanthopis 

 antarcticus} , depicted in the lower figure of the illustration, represents a genus 

 easily recognized by the horny appendage with which the tail terminates; the mid- 

 dle row of scales in the fore part of the body being more or less distinctly keeled. In 

 addition to Australia and New Guinea, this snake also inhabits the Eastern Mo- 

 luccas, as well as Ceram and Amboyna. It feeds chiefly upon frogs and young 

 birds and is regarded by Europeans as most deadly, although the natives believe 

 that no one ever dies from a death adder's bite. 



The sea snakes are now considered to represent merely a subfamily 

 {Hydrophiincz) of the front-fanged Colubrines. From the preceding 

 subfamily they are distinguished, not only by their marine habits, but likewise by 

 their strongly-compressed and oar-shaped tails, in the skeleton of which both the 

 superior and inferior spines of the vertebrae are very strongly developed. With the 

 exception of the broad-tailed sea snakes, which form a kind of transition between 



