OXYRHABDIUM 101 



oculars; parietals longer than frontal, and twice as long as 

 wide ; nostril large, pierced between 2 nasals ; loreal three times 

 as long as wide, narrowly entering eye, in contact with 3 labials ; 

 no preocular, 2 postoculars ; temporals 1 + 2 + 3 ; 8 upper 

 labials, fifth and sixth entering eye; labials in the following 

 order of 'size : eighth, sixth, seventh, fifth, fourth, third, second, 

 first ; mental narrow, subcrescentic ; 6 lower labials, fourth 

 largest, the first 4 in contact with anterior chin shields, which 

 are very broad and closely juxtaposed and followed by 2 small 

 pairs of imbricate scales ; mental groove very indistinct ; eye 

 small, the diameter less than half the distance from nostril, 

 the pupil appearing nearly round; head somewhat flattened, 

 more or less distinct from neck ; snout acuminate ; ventrals, 177 ; 

 anal single; subcaudals, 56; scales in 15 smooth rows, outer 

 largest, all without apical pits; tail cylindrical. 



Color ill life. — Above dark iridescent lavender-brown, be- 

 coming lighter on sides ; belly immaculate creamy yellow ; top 

 of head darker, bluish brown to lavender ; labials cream color to 

 yellow; under part of tail a muddy cream, with an indistinct 

 zigzag line between subcaudals ; edges of body scales darker, 

 giving the appearance of an indistinct network over body. 



Measiireinents of Oxyrhabdiuin tnodestum (Dumeril and Bibron) . 



mm. 



Total length 579 



Snout to vent 480 



Tail 99 



Variation. — It will be seen from Table 15 that males have 

 a smaller number of ventrals and a larger number of subcaudals 

 than females; No. 1 of those listed, although having the average 

 number of ventrals and subcaudals, has only 7 upper labials, 

 with the fourth and fifth entering the eye ; in this it agrees 

 with Oxyrhabdium leporinum. It has a single postocular, but 

 in all other respects agrees with the other specimens, and in no 

 way resembles O. leporinum in color or markings. There is a 

 tendency toward the fusion of the postoculars, and in five spec- 

 imens they are fused on one or both sides. The young have a 

 yellow collar but no other distinctive markings. I have exam- 

 ined one specimen (No. R 575) from Camp Gandara, Samar, 

 which has the following scale formula: Scale rows, 15; ventrals, 

 164; anal single; subcaudals, 49; length, 410 millimeters. No. 

 915 has the anal divided, but otherwise agrees with normal 

 specimens. A single unnumbered specimen in the Santo Tomas 

 Museum, an adult female containing eggs, is the largest one 



