10. TEOPIDONOTUS. 215 



broadly truncated anteriorly, shorter than the pi-sefrontala ; frontal 

 longer than its distance from the end of the snout, shorter than the 

 parietals ; loreal nearly square ; one or two pros- and two or three 

 postoculars; temporals 2 + 2; nine upper labials, fourth and fifth 

 entering the eye ; five lower labials in contact with the anterior 

 chin-shields, which are shorter than the posterior. Scales in liJ 

 rows, strongly keeled, outer row also keeled but not so strongly as 

 the rest. Ventrals 142-144; anal entire; suboaudals 75-77. 

 Dark brown above, with a narrow light longitudinal line on each 

 'side, and a broader stripe, two scales wide, below it ; head dark 

 brown above, the upper and lower labials and rostral yellow, edged 

 and blotched with brown ; ventrals very dark brown, each tipped 

 laterally with light yellow; an indistinct yelhiw line along the 

 middle of the ventral shields, rather more conspicuous posteriorly. 



Total length 500 millim. ; tail 125. 



Sibsagar, Assam. 



11. Tropidoiiotus picturatus. 



Tropidonotus picturatus, Schleg. Pht/s. Serp. ii. p. 314, pi. xii. 

 figs. 8 & 9 (1837) ; Dum. ^ Bibr. vii. p. 602 (1854) ; Omitk. Cat. 

 p. 71 (1858) ; Jan, Arch. Zool. Amit. Phys. iii. 1865, p. 228, and 

 Icon. Gen. 27, pis. iii. figs. 3 & 4, and iv. (1868) ; Krefft, Snakes of 

 Austral, p. 20, pi. v. fig. 8 (1869) ; Boria, Ann. Mus. Oenooa, 

 vi. 1874, p. 348 ; Peters ^ Doria, Ann. Mas. Geneva, xiii. 1878, 

 p. 388. 



australis, Gray, Zool. Misc. p. 54 (1842). 



semicinetus, Dum. ^ Bibr. t. v. p. 603. 



Katophis plumbea, Macleay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. W. ii. 1877, 

 p. 36. 



? Tropidonotus angusticeps, Macleay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. W. viii. 

 1883, p. 4.33. 



Tropidonotus ater, Macleay, op. cit. x. 1885, p. 67. 



Eye moderate. Eostral broader than deep, just visible from 

 above ; internasals as long as broad or longer, broadly truncate in 

 front, as long as or a little shorter than the praefrontals ; frontal 

 once and a half to once and three fourths as long as broad, longer 

 than its distance from the end of the snout, a little shorter than the 

 parietals ; loreal as long as deep or deeper ; one or two pr^- and 

 three (rarely two) postoculars; temporals 1 + 1 or 1 + 2 (rarely 

 2 + 2) ; eight upper labials, third, fourth, and fifth (rarely third and 

 fourth or fourth and fifth) entering the eye ; four or five lower 

 labials in contact with the anterior chin-shields, which are shorter 

 than the posterior. Scales in 15 (rarely 17) rows, strongly keeled, 

 of outer row smooth or more or less distinctly keeled. Ventrals 

 128-165; anal divided; subcaudals 52-82. Coloration very 



XT ft y] Q nif* 



Total length 740 millim. ; tail 180. 

 Moluccas, Papuasia, North Australia. 



