137 



Olive-brown above, with a yellow streak along each side of 

 the body anteriorly, sometimes indistinct; sides darker. Lower 

 surface whitish, ventrals edged with black, subcaudals black, 

 edged with white. Length of head and body 436 mm.; tail 95 mm. 



Habitat: Borneo (Matang, Landak!). 



2. Hydrablabes praefrontalis (Mocq.). 



Ablabes periops var. praefrontalis, Mocquard, Le Natural. 1890, p. 1545 Nouv. 



Arch. Mus. (3) II 1890, p. 137, pi. IX, fig. i. 

 Hydrablabes praefrontalis, Boulenger, Cat. Sn. I 1893, p. 297. 



Differing from the preceding species on the following 

 points: Praefrontals fused into a single shield; scales in 15 

 rows; ventrals 178 202; subcaudals 72. 



Olive-brown above, with a dark vertebral stripe, sometimes 

 indistinct and two black dorso-lateral lines, broken up into 

 spots posteriorly. Lower surface yellow, the outer edge of 

 each ventral dark brown; subcaudals edged with brown; a dark 

 median line along the tail. Length of head and body 346mm.; 

 tail 90 mm. 



Type-specimen examined in the Paris Museum. 



Habitat: Borneo (Kina Balu!). 



29. Ablabes Dum. & Bibr. 



(DUMfcRiL & BIBRON, Erp. Gen. VII p. 304, 1854). 



Head not or scarcely distinct from neck; eye small or 

 moderate; pupil round; nasal entire or divided; loreal present 

 or absent. Maxillary teeth small, equal, 15 30; mandibular 

 teeth about equal. Body round, slender, covered with smooth 

 or feebly keeled scales without pits, in 13 to 17 rows; ventrals 

 rounded. Tail long; subcaudals in two rows. 



Distribution. S. E. Asia; Japan. 



Key to the Indo-Australian species. 



A. Scales in 15 rows. 



1. No loreal; nasal single I. A. tricolor p. 138. 



2. Two loreals; nasal divided 2. A. liber tatis p. 138. 



B. Scales in 13 rows. 



a. Subcaudals 42 75 3. A. baliodirus p. 139. 



b. Subcaudals 77 103 4. A. longicauda p. 140. 



