1873.] 



FROM CELEBES AND THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 



169 



Oxycalamus orycephalus. 



Stenognathus modestus, D. & B. 



Rhabdosoma leporinum, Giinth. Col. Snak. p. 12, is identical with 

 this species, as already indicated by Peters, Berl. Monatsber. 1861, 

 p. 684. Seven or eight upper labials. Dumeril' s statement that 

 this snake is found in Java, is probably erroneous, as several other 

 undoubtedly Philippine snakes have been stated by him to be from 

 Java, where they do not occur. 



Oligodon notospilus. (Plate XVIII. fig. A.) 

 Scales in fifteen rows. Loreal small but distinct ; one prae- and 

 one postocular ; seven upper labials, the third and fourth entering 

 the orbit ; temporals 1+2. Ventral shields 143; anal entire; sub- 

 caudals 35 (the seven anterior not divided). Blackish ash, many 

 scales with a very small white dot ; along the median line of the 

 back a series of eighteen large rhombic yellow black-edged spots, 

 three of which belong to the tail. Head yellow, with two angular 

 black cross bands. Lower parts uniform yellowish. 



A single example of this beautiful snake was obtained by Dr. Meyer 

 on Mindanao ; it is 10| inches long, of which the tail takes lg inch. 



Compsosoma melanurtjm (Schleg.). 



Dr. Meyer has obtained several examples of a light-coloured 

 variety with reddish tail in Luzon and Negros. This variety is 

 mentioned by Dumeril & Bibron (p. 301), and is again described 

 by them as Plagiodon erythrurus (p. 175) from Java. Several 

 other Philippine reptiles having been erroneously stated by Dumeril 

 & Bibron to have been obtained from Java, 1 doubt whether the 

 typical example of their PL erythrurus was received from that island. 

 In Jan'a ' Iconographie ' this snake is also figured twice, under the 

 names given by Dumeril and Bibron. 



Zaocys luzonensis. 



Scales smooth, in fourteen rows, a single elongate loreal ; occipitals 

 truncated behind ; seven upper labials, of which the third and fourth 

 enter the orbit ; the fifth triangular, with its upper point not reach- 

 ing the postocular or the temporal ; two prseoculars, the lower small, 



