MORPHOLOGY OF VENOMOUS SNAKES 21 



Denisonia nigrescens. 



Color deep olive; head black; belly yellow. Length about 1.5 to 2 feet. New 

 South Wales and Queensland. 

 Denisonia nigrostriata. 



Yellow color with black stripes; head dark brown; upper lip and belly yellow. 

 Length about 1.25 feet. Queensland. 

 Denisonia Carpentaria. 



Brown color; upper lip and belly yellowish-white. Length 8 inches. North 

 Queensland. 

 Denisonia pallidiceps. 



Color deep brown-olive; head usually very light; belly yellow. Length about 

 2 feet. North Australia. 

 Denisonia melanura. 



Dark brown color; head and side of body red; tail black; belly yellow. Length 

 about 3.25 feet. Solomon Islands. 

 Denisonia par. 



Color brownish-red in large bands over body, with white intervals ; head brown ; 

 belly white; tail with red bands. Length about 2.5 feet. Solomon Islands, 

 Straits of Bougainville, and neighboring islands. 

 Denisonia woodfordii. 



Color light brown, with reticular pattern; head dark brown; belly white. 

 Length about 2.25 feet. New Georgia, Solomon Islands. 



Genus MICROPECHIS Boulenger. 



Maxillary bone extending forward as far as the palatine, with a pair of large 

 poison fangs followed by three small solid teeth; anterior mandibular teeth longer. 

 Head distinct from neck; eyes very small and with round pupil. Body cylin- 

 drical; smooth scales, in 15 to 17 rows. Tail short; subcaudals in two rows. 



Micropechis ikaheka. 



Color yellow and black on transverse bars; head and tail black; belly yellow. 

 Length 4.5 to 5 feet. New Guinea. 

 Micropechis elapoides. 



Color cream, with 22 black bands which are larger than the white interspaces 

 which separate the former. Length about 2.5 feet. Florida Islands, group of 

 Solomon Islands. 



Genus HOPLOCEPHALUS Cuvier. 



Same characters as Micropechis. The scales in 21 rows. Ventrals angulate 

 and notched laterally. Tail moderate, subcaudals in one row. 

 Hoplocephalus bungaroides s. variegatus. 



Color black above with yellow speckles forming irregular crossbands on body; 

 upper lip yellow; belly whitish-yellow, and yellower on sides. Length about 

 6 feet. New South Wales. 

 Hoplocephalus bitorquatus. 



Ventral scales very angular. Color olive-green; head pale olive with bright 

 yellowish occipital speckle, and two black spots and some smaller spots between 

 and around the eyes; belly olive-gray or brown. Length about 1.75 feet. Queens- 

 land, New South Wales. 

 Hoplocephalus Stephens!!. 



Alternative transverse bars of white and black, the black twice larger than white. 

 Head dark, a yellowish w-spot on neck. Length 2.5 feet. Port Macquarie, New 

 South Wales. 



