BY GERARD KREFFT. 49 



the northward ; but, owing to its nocturnal habits, collectors 

 will experience great difficulty in capturing it. 



During the cold season, from May to September, I have 

 frequently found this Snake hybernating (if I may so express 

 their dormant state) under loose flat stones, singly or in pairs, 

 but never in company with other Ophidians ; and more than once 

 a dozen specimens were the result of a day's hunting. 



It is very singular that no Snakes of this kind were ever met 

 with between Sydney and Long-Bay, or towards the South-head, 

 and I believe that they never frequented that district, otherwise 

 the species would have been known long before this, as even 

 White, in his Voyage to New South Wales, figures such rare 

 Snakes as Vermicella annulata, and HoplocepJicdus variegatus. 



With regard to its habits, I may mention that it is strictly 

 nocturnal, feeding on the smaller Batrachians, as Pseudophryne 

 australis, and TTperoleia marmorata, specimens of which I have 

 found in its stomach. It is rather sluggish in its disposition, 

 and, though venomous, not dangerous to man or the larger 

 animals. 



The female produces about 20 young annually. 



HOPLOCEPHALUS SIGNATUS. Jan. 



Black-bellied Hoplocephalus. 



Scales in 17 rows. 

 Ventrals 157. 

 Anal bifid. 

 Subcaudals 51. 



Body short and rounded; tail short, distinct from trunk; head 

 triangular, distinct from neck : above brownish olive, head 

 much lighter coloured, with a white-edged dark streak from 

 behind the eye to the back of the neck. 



Description head shields regular ; vertical, six sided, with 

 obtuse angle in front, and a sharp one behind ; superci- 

 liaries rather large, nearly as long as the vertical occipitals ; much 

 forked behind, sometimes angular, but more generally rounded ; 

 nasal large, pierced by the nostril ; one anterior, two posterior 

 oculars ; rostral high, with a groove along its lower edge ; six 



D 



