416 Dr. A. Giinther on new Species of Snakes 
Geophis bicolor. 
Head rather broad, short, and depressed; body and _ tail 
of moderate length. Eye small. Anterior frontals about 
one-fourth the size of posterior; vertical rather longer than 
broad, with the anterior angle very open; occipitals as long 
_ as postfrontals and vertical together, rounded behind; six 
upper labials, the third and fourth entering the orbit; the 
fifth is the largest and forms a long suture with the occipital. 
The remainder of the temple is covered by scale-like temporals 
1+2. ‘Two postoculars. Anterior chin-shields twice as 
long as posterior, in contact with four labials. Scales in 
seventeen rows, smooth, without apical groove. Ventrals 
160-168 ; anal entire; subcaudals 39-48. 
Upper parts uniform black; below white; on the two or 
three outer series of scales the white colour appears in more 
or less distinct small spots, whilst the black of the upper parts 
extends to the angles of the ventral shields. Each subcaudal 
black in front. 
We have received four examples of this species in a collec- 
tion made in the neighbourhood of the city of Mexico by Hr. 
Doorman. The largest is 143 inches long, the tail being 
3 inches, and the head 5 lines. 
Simotes bicatenatus (Gthr.). 
Specimens of this snake have been collected by Mr. Theo- 
bald in Pegu. 
Stimotes venustus (Jerdon). 
We have lately received well-preserved examples from Mr. 
Theobald and Capt. Beddome. I find that this snake, ori- 
ginally referred to Xenodon by Mr. Jerdon, has only one or 
two palatine teeth, and is therefore intermediate between 
Simotes and Oligodon. 
Simotes amabilis. Pl. XVII. fig. A. 
Scales in nineteen rows. One pre-, two postoculars ; loreal 
square ; seven upper labials, the third and fourth entering the 
orbit; temporals 1+ 2; ventrals 178; anal entire; subcaudals 
seventy-five. | 
Head with the markings usual in the species of this genus. 
Back with forty-one narrow yellow cross bars, each edged with 
black in front and behind, the entire marking being scarcely 
broader than a scale; tail with similar markings, but more or 
less broken up into spots. Lower parts white, a rather ir- 
regular series of small blackish spots along each side of the 
belly, not continued on to the tail. | 
