204 



SNAKES. 



numerous species of oblique-eyed snakes. Generally having a smaller eye than the 

 water-snakes, the members of this genus are distinguished by having only a single 

 inter-nasal shield ; the nostril being placed in a half -divided nasal shield, while the 

 teeth of the lower jaw are of nearly equal size, and the scales lack the pits 

 characterising those of an allied genus. There are from eighteen to twenty-five 

 teeth in the hinder upper jawbone ; the head is, at most, but slightly distinct from 

 the neck; the body is cylindrical; and the tail, which has two rows of shields 

 beneath, is of moderate length, the scales being usually striated and keeled. The 

 genus is represented by eleven species, some of which are found in the New World, 

 while others inhabit South-Eastern Asia, and others Tropical Africa. 



The keel -tailed snake (Helicops carinicauda), inhabits Brazil. It attains a 



javan pigmy snake (nat. size). 



length of between 3 and 4 feet ; and is characterised by having the scales on the 

 back of the head smooth, and those on the body keeled and arranged in nineteen 

 rows, the frontal shields being nearly or quite as long as the parietals, while there 

 are from one hundred and twenty-six to one hundred and fifty-five shields on the 

 lower surface of the body. The general colour is dark olive-brown above, with four 

 more or less distinctly defined blackish stripes, and a yellow stripe along the two 

 lower rows of scales ; on the under-parts the ground-colour is yellow or red, with 

 black spots or stripes on the body, and a black stripe on the tail. In the neighbour- 

 hood of the Rio Grande do Sul this species is one of the commonest of snakes ; and 

 while its general habits appear to be very similar to those of the water-snakes, 

 like all the other members of its genus, it produces living young. 



„ . The snakes we have now to consider, while still belonging to the 



Pigmy Snakes. . • . 



typical subfamily of the solid-toothed series, differ from the foregoing 



