132 ON REPTILES ETC. FROM DUKE-OF-YORK ISLAND. [Feb. 20, 
EREBOPHIS ASPER, Sp. n. (Plate XXI.) 
The head of this singular Snake is subtriangular, with high sub- 
vertical sides, swollen behind and covered with small, obtusely keeled 
scales ; snout truncated in front, with a distinct canthus rostralis, 
the nasal plate being immediately below the canthus. Ten 
or eleven low labial shields form the margin of the upper lip, 
and are covered with minute tubercles. The skin behind the eye 
forms a fold with a more or less distinct hollow below it. Thirteen 
lower labials ; gular scales in many series. 
The body is very thick and short, distinctly compressed. The 
scales are short and rounded behind, thick and provided with a 
strong keel, forming in the middle of the body about forty-one longi- 
tudinal series. The longitudinal series do not run parallel to the 
vertebral line, but gradually descend backwards towards the belly. 
The three or four outer series of scales are smooth, the outermost 
being the largest. Ventrals 146; subcaudals 20. 
Upper parts dark brown, with indistinct patches of lighter brown. 
’ All the lower parts and the smooth lateral series of scales yellowish. 
Only one specimen of this highly interesting Snake is in the col- 
lection ; it is twenty-nine inches long, the head measuring 12 inch, 
and the tail two inches. 
BATRACHIANS. 
PLATYMANTIS PLICIFERA, Gthr. 
Singular as it may appear, the Platymantis of Duke-of-York 
Island is not identical with P. vitiana from the Fiji Islands, but 
with P. plicifera from the Philippines. If single examples had been 
examined, slight differences in the form of the foremost part of the 
snout and in the length of the hind limb might have been regarded 
as indicative of specific distinctness ; but they prove to be merely 
individual when the whole series of specimens (five from Duke-of- 
York Island and six from the Philippines) is examined. 
Fisues. 
The species sent by Mr. Brown are twenty-five in number, belong- 
ing tc the most common forms generally distributed over the tropical 
parts of the Indo-Pacific region ; and as they evidently form but a 
very small proportion of the fish-fauna of this archipelago, an enu- 
meration of the species would add nothing to our knowledge. How- 
ever, the collection contained a specimen of Histiopterus typus 
(Schleg.), a species hitherto believed to be peculiar to the Japanese 
seas, and represented on the eastern and southern coasts of Aus- 
tralia by H. labiosus and H, recurvirostris. 
