104 SNAKES OP THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 



nearly three times as wide as supraoculars ; parietals large, not 

 twice as long as frontal ; nostril between 2 nasals, the posterior 

 largest; loreal about five times as long as wide, narrowly en- 

 tering eye; supraocular narrow, elongate; 2 small postoculars, 

 upper largest ; temporals 1 + 2 ; 7 labials, fourth and fifth 

 entering eye; seventh, fourth, fifth, sixth, third, second, first, 

 is the order of size of the labials; mental very small, subcres- 

 centic; chin shields very large, closely juxtaposed with a very 

 indistinct mental groove; chin shields followed by 3 pairs of 

 imbricate scales ; eye dark blue, with a yellow vertical pupil ; 

 head distinct from neck; ventrals, 165; anal undivided; sub- 

 caudals, 41 ; scale rows, 15, all smooth. 



Color in life. — A bright uniform yellow-olive, iridescent 

 above; head same color but a little darker; labials yellowish, 

 spotted with brown; below yellow-cream, edges of ventrals 

 tinged with grayish; dark subcaudally. In alcohol the color 

 changes to a dull browmish black. 



Measurements of Oxyrhabdium leporinurn (Giinther). 



mm. 



Total len^h 685 



Snout to vent 592 



Tail 93 



Head width 12 



Head length ' 25 



Variation. — There are one adult and three young specimens 

 in my collection from Benguet. There is one adult specimen 

 in the Bureau of Science collection. There is but little variation 

 evident in the species, save in the ventral and subcaudal counts, 

 the limits in the former being 164 and 180, and in the latter, 41 

 and 51. The young are a slaty blue-black, with a whitish nuchal 

 collar and a series of indistinct bands of white 1 or 2 scales 

 wide crossing the body in a zigzag manner. 



Remarks. — This species seems to be confined to the highlands 

 of Luzon ; it is a rare snake. Two specimens were dug up along 

 an irrigation ditch, and a third had burrowed under a rock at 

 an elevation of 2,000 meters on Mount Santo Tomas. The speci- 

 men here described was found crawling in an open forest path. 

 This species is of a very gentle disposition. The type was 

 collected by H. Cuming; the exact type locality is no longer 

 known. A second specimen in the British Museum is from 

 Luzon, collected by A. B. Meyer. The types of Stenognathm 



