Ill 



HELICOPS ABACVRVS.—HolbrooL 



Plate XXVI. 



Characters. Head short, thick, not distinct, but as large as the neck; eyes 

 and nostrils superior and near the snout: body bluish-black above; flanks marked 

 with transverse bands of bright red; beneath red, with black spots disposed with 

 some regularity: tail very short, thick, conical, rounded at the apex with a slight 

 point, one-tenth of total length. PL 195. Sc. 34. 



Synonyme. Homalopsis Rheinwardtii, Schlegel, Phys. des Serp., torn. ii. p. 357. 



Description. The head is short, thick, a little flattened above, and not 

 distinct from the neck. The vertical plate is short, broad and pentagonal; the 

 occipital plates are large, broad, and irregularly hexagonal; the superior-orbital 

 are small, and nearly regularly quadrilateral; the frontal plates are almost square, 

 with the posterior external angle lengthened, to form a part of the orbit; there is 

 but one anterior frontal plate, large, triangular, with its apex forward and 

 truncated; the nasal is also single, with the nostrils nearly in its centre; the 

 posterior orbital are two in number; the anterior orbital is narrow, elongated and 

 quadrilateral; the loral plate is wanting; the rostral plate is very broad, irregularly 

 hexagonal, broadest transversely, and slightly hollowed below. There are seven 

 labial plates, increasing in size to the sixth, which is very large; the third and 

 fourth make the inferior Avail of the orbit. 



The mouth is small. The nostrils are latero-superior, and near the snout. 

 The eyes are small, also directed obliquely upwards, and placed near the snout; 



