lg Hans Gadow, 



Slreptophorus, Southern Mexico to N.W. South America. 



«S'. atratus, Vera Cruz to Ecuador and Venezuela. 



Polyodontophis (Enicogtmthus pt.) Central America. 



P. venusiissimus, Nicaragua. 



P. ammlatus, Guatemala. 



Colnber conspicillaUis, Japan ; red ground with black spots with yellowish 



margins. 

 C. porphyraceus, Indo-China. Sometimes red with narrow black 



cross bars. 



Coluher, cosmopolitan genus with more than 40 species, of which 



scarcely any approach elapoid coloration. 

 C. dichrous, Brazil to Peru ; uniform olive black brown, young black 



with narrow yellowish crossbands. 

 C. novae-hispaniae = Spilotes salvini G-UENTHEE, Mexico and Central 



America; black and yellow, the yellow forming regulär cross bands 



on the posterior body and on the tail, 



IV. Hl/Siillae. Only about 5 species. Harmless. 



Ilysia scytale, Guyana etc. Coral red with numerous black rings. 



Often called Coralsnake. 

 Cylindrophis rufiis, Indo-Malayan. Black , often with many white 



narrow , irregulär rings ; red neck-ring and red under parts of 



the tail. 



V. Vvopeltidae. About 40 species, „Burrowing snakes of small size, 



restricted to Ceylon and the mountains of Peninsular India, or to 

 heavy forests at the immmediate foot of the mountains, as far North 

 as 19°." BouLENGER, Cat. Snakes, Vol. 1. 



Many of them are beautifully coloured black with vivid red 

 and yellow; e. g. Rhinophis. 



A numerical census like the above is not satisfactory. The 

 genera and species are not equivalent, many of them being based 

 upon unimportant characters. It is also impossible to deüne the 

 limits of "elapoid" coloration, especially since not a few individual 

 variations of EJaps look far less Elapoid than many harmless sharply 

 ring-ed snakes which common sense excludes form such a list. 



However there are about 6 Elapine against 15 harmless genera, 

 but whilst two thirds of the total species of Elaps have mostly 

 "warning colours", only a few each of the almost equally large genus 

 Homalocranium are thus conspicuously coloured, and the same applies 

 to Geophis and Coronella. In fact what is the rule in the Elapine 

 genera, is the exception in most of the others, but mere comparison 

 of the respective numbers of species does not bring out the really 



