123 



COLUBER ELAPSOIDES. 



Plate XXVIII. 



Characters. Head small, size of the neck; body scarlet, surrounded by black 

 rings, in the centre of which is a smaller white ring. PI. 170, sc. 38. 



Description. The head is small and like that of the Elaps fulvius, and not 

 very distinct from the body; it is short, with the snout rounded. The vertical 

 plate is triangular and elongated, with the basis directed forwards and the apex 

 backwards. The superior orbital are nearly quadrilateral, pointed anteriorly, and 

 do not project much externally. The occipital plates are oblong, their inner 

 margins straight, their outer margins rounded, broadest in front, and joined to 

 the vertical and superior orbital plates. There are two temporal plates, small, 

 nearly of the same size, and quadrilateral in shape. The frontal plates are 

 pentagonal and broad internally, but pointed externally; the anterior frontal are 

 small, and nearly quadrilateral. The nasal plates are of similar form, with the 

 posterior border hollowed for the nostrils. The rostral plate is triangular; its 

 basis below, and its apex above and rounded. There are two posterior orbital 

 plates, nearly of the same size, the superior being but slightly the larger. There 

 is but one anterior orbital plate, nearly a parallelogram, with its greatest extent 

 in the vertical direction. The upper jaw is covered with seven plates, nearly 

 quadrilateral; two of which, the third and fourth, form the lower margin of the 

 orbit of the eye. The nostrils are large, lateral, and placed at the junction of the 

 two plates. The eyes are small but prominent, as the superior orbital plates are 

 not projecting; the pupil is dark, the iris reddish. The neck is cylindrical, of the 

 same size as the head. The body is a regular cylindroid, a little flattened on 



