268 



lowish, uniform or speckled with olive ; throat and anterior 

 ventrals spotted with black in the young; tail yellow or red. 

 Length of head and body 770 mm.; tail 240 mm. 



Type-specimen examined in the British Museum. 



Habitat: New Guinea (Yule Island). Australia!. 



69. Pseudechis Wagler. 

 (WAGLER, Syst. Amph. p. 171, 1830). 



Head distinct from neck ; eye moderate or small ; pupil round ; 

 canthus rostralis distinct; nostril between two nasals; loreal 

 absent. Maxillary teeth 2 large, grooved fangs followed by 

 2 5 small solid teeth; anterior mandibular teeth longest. Body 

 round, covered with smooth scales without pits, in 17 23 

 rows, more on the neck; ventrals rounded. Tail moderate; 

 subcaudals in two rows or partly single, partly in two rows. 



Distribution. New Guinea ; Australia. 



Key to the Indo-Australian species. 



A. Anal divided', anterior subcaudals single. 



I. Scales in 17 rows I. P. australis p. 268. 



II. Scales in 19 or 21 rows 2. P. fapuamis p. 269. 



B. Anal entire; subcaudals in two rows; scales in 23 rows. 3. P. scutellatus p. 269. 



i. Pseudechis australis (Gray). 



Naja australis^ Gray, Zool. Misc. 1842, p. 55. 



Pseudechis australis^ Boulenger, Cat. Sn. Ill 1896, p. 330. 



Eye small, almost as large as its distance from the mouth. 

 Rostral more broad than 

 deep, visible from above; 

 posterior nasal in contact 

 with the praeocular; inter- 

 nasals half as long as the 

 praefrontals; frontal small, 

 as long as its distance 

 from the rostral, much 

 smaller than the parietals; 

 one prae- and two post- 

 oculars; temporals 2 + 2, rig iog Pseudeekis australis (Gray) . 

 lower anterior wedged in Upper view of head. 



between the fifth and 

 sixth labials; six upper labials, third and fourth entering the 



