437 



the warrens, and at one spot we came across two men who 

 had got a couple of rabbits by digging with sticks only. One 

 and all spoke of the snake as "woraa," and as I had 

 frequently heard of a big snake by this name, I was particu- 

 larly anxious to establish its identity. Chance at length gave 

 me the desired opportunity, for on October 12, two days 

 after leaving Kanowana Station, when we were practically 

 lost among an apparently never-ending succession of sand- 

 hills, we camped in the fast-disappearing daylight ; in 

 unloading the camels, one of the packs was deposited almost 

 on to a large snake coiled on the sand. This welcome 

 incident greatly alarmed our Afghan driver, who evinced the 

 greatest horror of all reptiles, and spurred him into most 

 unusual activity. The snake was soon secured and tied up 

 alive, but was dead next morning, when it was posed and 

 photographed (pi. xxvii., fig. 2). 



The "woma" of the Cooper Creek district proves to be 

 Aspidites ramsayi, and when fresh the general colour was 

 pale greenish-grey above, somewhat darker on the head ; under- 

 parts yellow with pinkish-brown blotches, especially well- 

 marked on the fore parts and beneath the tail. The markings 

 are in the form of olive-coloured bands. They reach within 

 two scales of the ventrals, and join over the back, forming a 

 network two meshes wide. There are 89 bands on the body 

 and 14 on the tail. As the specimen obtained differs 

 considerably from those I had previously examined, some 

 details of its structure may be discussed. In this connection 

 also I have examined four other specimens afforded by this 

 Museum; the resulting conclusions support Mr. Longman's 

 statement that the head-shields are very variable. In the 

 above-noted paper I emphasized certain characters which 

 seemed conclusive for the determination of the two species, 

 Aspidites melanocephalus and A. ramsayi. When a larger 

 series of specimens is examined these supposed characters 

 largely fail, but the number of ventral and sub-caudal 

 shields appear to be reliable characters for the recognition of 

 the two species. In A. melanocephahts the ventrals number 

 321 to 338, and the sub-caudals 60 to 69, whereas in A. 

 ramsayi these plates number 287 to 308 and 51 to 53 

 respectively. Female snakes frequently have shorter tails 

 than males, but the figures given above bear no relation to 

 sex, as the examples of A . ramsayi, from which the numbers 

 were obtained, are of both sexes. The wholly black or brown 

 head and neck may be characteristic of A. melanocephahts, 

 but it may be noted that of the specimens of A. ramsayi now 

 under review, two young examples exhibit some black mark- 

 ings; thus in one, the snout, chin, and some of the head plates 



