304 HALLOWELL ON SOME NEW REPTILES 



DiNOPHis Hammondii. (Plate xxix.) 



Specific Characters. — Head olive color above, superior labials bordered with black ; 

 body above and upon sides green ; total length about six feet ; thirteen rows of long 

 and smooth scales. Abdominal scuta two hundred and seventeen. Sub-caudal one 

 hundred and sixteen. 



Description. — The head is long, rounded and narrow in front, covered above with 

 nine plates; the upper surface in front of the orbits is flattened ; between the orbits it 

 is convex, and also, but to a less extent, upon the occiput ; the rostral is large, 

 heptagonal, much broader below than above, excavated inferiorly, rounded in front ; 

 the anterior frontal are much smaller than the posterior, and are more or less 

 quadrilateral in s^iape ; the posterior frontal are very large, irregularly quadrilateral ; 

 they are prolonged externally upon the sides of the head, passing downward between 

 the posterior nasal and the two superior ant-ocular plates ; the vertical plate is short, 

 very broad anteriorly; the supra-orbital are also short, projecting very slightly over 

 the eye, narrow in front, broad behind ; the occipital are very large and pentangular, 

 much larger than broad ; there are two nasal plates of nearly equal size, the anterior 

 somewhat larger, with the nostrils between them ; the external openings for the latter 

 are quite large ; there is no loral plate; there are three antocular and four posterior 

 oculars ; the superior ant-ocular is the largest of the three ; it is prolonged superiorly, 

 so as to form a part of the upper surface of the head, entering in between the 

 posterior frontal and the vertical and supra-orbital plates ; the inferior ant-ocular is 

 small and quadrilateral, the middle long and slender ; there are eight plates upon the 

 margin of the upper jaw ; of these the seventh is the largest, and is remarkable for its 

 "Unusual form ; its superior margin is nearly straight, its posterior and inferior very 

 much curved; the plate on the leftside in the specimen examined differs considerably 

 from that on the right, being more prolonged, and also truncated posteriorly ; the 

 fourth labial plate forms part of the inferior margin of the orbit, the remainder being 

 completed by the inferior, anterior, and posterior oculars ; there is a long, triangular, 

 temporal plate occupying the space between the occipital and the seventh superior 

 abial ; the eyes are of moderate size, slightly projecting ; there are but two rows of 

 teeth in the upper jaw, one on each side, and two in the lower ; in the front part of 

 the upper jaw, immediately below the nostril, on each side of the head, is a curved 

 and perforated immovable fang about three lines in length; there is no pit between 

 the eye and the nostril ; several of the anterior teeth in the lower jaw are much larger 

 than the others; the longest is slender and deeply fissured anteriorly. The neck is con- 

 tracted, the body long, thicker about the middle, covered above with long and smooth 

 quadrangular scales, arranged in thirteen rows; the scales nearest the abdomen are 

 shorter than the others ; the tail is quite long, covered above with four rows of short 



