COLUBRINE GROUP. 



225 



Among the deadliest of Australian snakes is the purplish 

 death-adder (Pseudechis porphyriaca), alone representing a genus 

 characterised by the great elongation and slenderness of the cylindrical body, the 

 sharply pointed tail, the small head, imperfectly differentiated from the neck and 

 clothed with large shields, the smooth scales, arranged in from seventeen to twenty- 

 three rows, the divided anal shield, and the arrangement of the shields on the 



SHORT DEATH-ADDER, AND SPINE-TAILED DEATH-ADDER (£ Hat. size). 



under surface of the tail at first in a single, and posteriorly in a double series. 

 Behind the fangs are one or two solid teeth in the upper jaw ; the pupil of the eye 

 is round ; and the neck cannot be dilated. This snake, which grows to a length of 

 about seven feet, is very variable in coloration. Generally, however, the colour of 

 the back varies from a shining purplish black to dark olive-brown, the under- 

 pays being red, and the sides carmine ; but the latter colours not occupying the 

 centres of the scales, which are black, as are the hinder borders of the shields of 

 the under surface. Generally known to the settlers by the name of the black 



VOL. V. — 15 



