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A NEW SNAKE OF THE FAMILY UROPELTIDAE. 
BY 
Cotonet F. Watt, I.M.S., C.M.G., C.M.Z.S. 
(With a plate.) 
Among a small collection of snakes in St. Joseph’s College, Bangalore, 
I discovered a small Uropelt which is not only a species new to science, 
but constitutes a very well marked genus, combining the characters 
of Plectrurus, Pseudoplectrurus, and Platyplectrurus. 
BRACHYOPHIDIUM, gen. nov. 
General characters.—Body short, of considerably greater calibre 
posteriorly than anteriorly, cylindrical, smooth. Head small. Snout 
narrowly rounded. Eye in an ocular shield. No mental groove. 
Neck not constricted. Tail short, strongly and increasingly more 
compressed from base to apex. 
Lepidosis. Nasals.—Meeting behind the rostral. Internasals.— 
Absent. Prefrontals—A pair. Supraoculars.—Absent. Preocular.— 
Absent. Ocular.—Present. Postocular.—Absent. Temporal.— 
Present. Supralabials—Four. Infralabials.—Four. Sublinguals.— 
Absent.—Costals. In 13 rows anteriorly, in 15 rows at midbody to 
vent. Smooth. Last row enlarged ; about three-fourths the breadth 
of the ventrals. Supracaudals——Smooth. Terminal Shield—Small, 
compressed, ending as a single point. 
Ventrals.—Moderately developed. Anal.—Divided, about twice 
the breadth of the last ventral. Subcaudals.—In pairs. 
BRACHYOPHIDIUM RHODOGASTER, spec. nov. 
General characters.—Snout narrowly rounded. Nostrilin the anter- 
ior part of the nasal. Eye more than half the length of the ocular. 
Lepidosis.—Rostral.—Deeper than broad, portion visible above 
equal to the suture between the nasals. Nasals.—-Large, in contact 
behind the rostral. Prefrontals.—Long, nearly as long as the frontal, 
in contact with the nasal, 2nd and 3rd_ supralabials, and ocular. 
Frontal.—As long as the snout, much longer than broad, equal to the 
parietals ; the ocular sutures about one third the parietal sutures. 
Temporal.—One ; shorter than the ocular, about half the parietals. 
Supralabials.—F¥our, fourth longest. Infralabials.—Three, the first in 
‘contact behind the mental. Costals.—Two head-lengths behind the 
head 13, midbody 15, two head-lengths before the vent 15. The 4th 
row divides about four and a half head-lengths behind the head. 
Ventrals.—143. Anal. Divided. Subcaudals. 7 pairs. 
Length—178 mm. (7 inches). 
Dentition.—The maxilla has 10? teeth. 
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