BY GEEAED KEEFFT. 39 



M. variegata is wanting. Some specimens occur with a pale 

 yellow streak from the side of the head to the vent : in fact we 

 very rarely find two of these snakes which do not differ con- 

 siderably in their markings. 



The range of the Diamond Snake (M. spilotes) is restricted 

 to a very limited area of country, being found in no other part 

 of Australia than from Port Macquarie to Jervis Bay, or perhaps 

 Cape Howe ; and from the coast to the western slopes of the 

 Blue Mountains and the Liverpool Range. In the plains watered 

 by the Lachlan, the Murray and the Murrumbidgee, the present 

 species is not found, the Carpet Snake (Harelia variegata} taking 

 its place there. 



The Diamond Snake is a common species in the county of 

 Cumberland", in the Blue Mountains and the Illawarra district ; it 

 is a harmless creature, which may be picked up by any body with- 

 out ever offering to bite ; though it is a strictly nocturnal snake, 

 individuals are nevertheless met with during the day-time, either 

 basking in the sun and digesting their food, or, having been dis- 

 turbed, in search of a place of shelter. Like the other species of 

 the family Pythonida?, they prey upon birds, and the smaller 

 species of Mammals ; young individuals feeding upon insects, 

 frogs, or birds' eggs ; the female deposits 30 or more eggs in 

 December or January, which in a month or two the sun brings to 

 maturity. I am not aware that the mother cares any longer about 

 her progeny, after laying the eggs ; and I have never seen or 

 heard of a single instance where she coiled herself upon the 

 eggs so deposited. 



Diamond Snakes are found in almost every kind of country 

 as long as it offers sufficient shelter ; they prefer open stony 

 ridges studded with low trees and well supplied with water, the 

 edges of swamps and lagoons are frequented by them, as they 

 find there a considerable supply of Water-rats (Hydromys) , young 

 Ducks, and other water-fowl ; they also often visit the hen roosts 

 of the farmer, or surprise " Opossums " (Phalangista) or " Flying 

 Squirrels " (Petaurus), upon the branches of high Eucalypti. 



The largest specimen, to my knowledge, that has been cap- 

 tured near Sydney, and properly measured, without being 

 stretched, was 10 feet 3 inches long; that individuals of 11 



