POLYODONTOPHIS. 



301 



Head much depressed; eye very small. Eostral large, more 

 than twice as broad as deep, just visible from above ; nasal divided 

 below the nostril ; internasal single, as long as or a little shorter 

 than the likewise single praefrontal ; frontal as broad as long, as long 

 as its distance from the end of the snout, two thirds the length of 

 the parietals ; supraocular very small ; loreal as long as deep ; one 

 prseocular ; two postoculars ; temporals 1 + 1 ; 5 upper labials, the 

 upper angle of the third entering the eye, fifth very large ; 3 lower 

 labials in contact with the anterior chin-shields, which are not 

 longer than the posterior. Scales in 17 rows. Ventrals 199-213 ; 

 anal divided ; subcaudals 58-77. Blackish brown above, brownish 

 white below. 



Total length 24 inches, tail 5. 



Hob. Khasi Hills, Assam, Yunnan. 



Genus POLYODONTOPHIS*. 



Teeth very numerous and closely set, equal in si/e, 30 to 50 in 

 each maxillary. Deutary bone loosely attached to the articular, 

 free posteriori v t. Head short, not or but slightly distinct from 

 neck ; eye rather small, with round pupil ; head-shields normal. 



Fig. 9<3. Head and dentition of Polyodontaphis collaris. 



Body cylindrical, elongate ; scales smooth, without apical pits, in 

 17 or 19 rows ; ventrals not angulate laterally ; tail moderate or 

 long ; subcaudals in two rows. 



This very natural genus includes 9 species : four from India, 

 Ceylon, Burma, and Southern China, described below ; one from 

 Siam and the Malay Peninsula and Archipelago, P. melanocephalus, 

 Gray (=ornatu$, Jan), of which Ablabes yeminatus> Schleg., and 



* The name Enicognathm, Dum. & Bibr. (1854), is preoccupied (G-. E. Gray, 

 1840). 



t As in Xenopeltis (see fig. 84, p. 275), in which the teeth are likewise very 

 numerous and closely set. 



