182 



P H I D I A. 



exiguous and elongated, and an inferior one, composed of the largest 

 of the series. There are two pairs of mental shields; the anterior pair 

 quadrangularly elongated, and the posterior pair spear-shaped ; both 

 contiguous upon their inner margin. The middle region of the throat 

 is occupied by three quite large scales. 



The scales are smooth and shining, disposed upon nineteen longi- 

 tudinal series. They are well-developed, subrhornboid, and nearly 

 equal sized all around the body. There are two hundred and twenty- 

 eight, rather narrow but transversely well-developed, abdominal scu- 

 tellae; the posterior two being divided. The tail, which constitutes 

 the tenth or eleventh of the entire length, is quite thin, spatuliform, 

 and rounded upon its posterior margin. There are ten subdivided 

 subcaudal scutellae, properly so to be called, followed by twenty-four 

 others along the edge on either side. The upper edge exhibits a similar 

 series of transversely elongated scutellae. The intervening and middle 

 region is occupied by two longitudinal series of scale-like scutellae, 

 transversely dilated. The posterior edge of the tail is formed by one 

 single sharp plate. 



The head is black, except the fronto-nasal region, from the rostral 

 plate to the anterior margin of the vertex plate, embracing entirely the 

 frontal plates, the portion of the nasal in advance of the nostril, the 

 upper half of the anteorbital, most of the supraocular, the external 

 angle of the occipital, the upper and part of the lower postorbital, and 

 one or two temporal shields, which are yellowish. A space along the 

 middle region of the throat, embracing half of the mental shields, to 

 the neck, is likewise yellowish. The latter area unites with a light 

 ring around the neck. The body is annulated with rings of a jet 

 shining black above, and brownish-black beneath, forty-one in number 

 from the occiput to the tip of the tail ; these rings are much broader 

 along the dorsal region than on the abdomen, where they cover from 

 two and a half to three and a half scutellae. The intervening space is 

 bluish above, and considerably narrower than the black rings them- 

 selves, whilst beneath they assume a yellowish-white hue, and nearly 

 equal to the rings in width. The tail is similarly annulated ; the 

 rings maintaining their width from the upper to the lower edge, the 

 black being wider than the yellow. The terminal edge is yellow. 



LOG. A specimen of this species is from the Feejee Islands. 



