120 SNAKES OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 



Key to the Philippine species of Ophites Wagler.^ 



a\ A preocular, separating eye from prefrontal. 



b\ Nasal single; ventrals not angulate 0. tessellatus (Jan) (p. 124), 



¥. Two nasals; ventrals laterally angulate- 0. aulicus (Linnaeus) (p. 120). 



a'. No preocular; prefrontal entering eye...... 0. subcinctus (Boie) (P- 124). 



OPHITES AULICUS (Linnaeus) 



Coluber aulicus Linn^us, Mus. Ad. Frid. 1 (1754) 29, pi. 12, fig. 

 2; Syst. Nat. ed. 10 1 (1758) 220. 



Lycodon aulicus BoiE, Isis (1827) 551; CoPE, Proc. Acad. Sci. Phila- 

 delphia (1860) 262 (var.) ; Peters, Mon. Berl. Ak. (1861) 688; 

 GiJNTHER, Rept. Brit. India (1864) 316; Proc. Zool. Soc. London 

 (1879) 18; Zool. Rec. (1870) 75; Jan, Icon. Gen. (1870) 36, pi. 

 4, fig. 1; Theobald, Gat. Rept. Brit. India (1876) 199; Murray, 

 Zool. Sind. (1884) 383; Fischer, Jahrb. wiss. Anst. Hamburg 

 (1885) 81; BouLENGER, Fauna Brit. India, Rept. (1890) 294; Cat, 

 Snakes Brit. Mus. 1 (1893) 352 (and varieties) ; Barbour, Mem. 

 Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard Coll. 44 (1912) 114. 



Lycodon capucinus BoiE, Isis (1827) 551. 



Lycodon unicolor Boie, Isis (1827) 551. 



Lycodon hebe Schlegel, Phys. Serp. 2 (1837) 106, pi. 4, figs. 1-6. 



Lycodon aulicus, part., Cantor, Cat. Mai. Rept. (1847) 68; Dumeril 

 and BiBRON, Erp. Gen. 7 (1854) 369; GtJNTHER, Cat. Col. Snakes 

 (1858) 201. 



Tytleria hypsirhinoides Theobald, Cat. Rept. As. Soc. Mus. (1868) 

 66. 



Ophites aulicus GRIFFIN, Philip. Journ. Sci. § A 4 (1909) 596; § 

 D 6 (1911) 258; Taylor, Philip. Journ. Sci. § D 12 (1917) 359. 



Description of species. — (From No. 161, E. H. Taylor col- 

 lection; collected in Manila, -June 1, 1915, by E. H. Taylor.) 

 Snout and head rather flattened, lips extended ; rostral much 

 broader than deep, scarcely visible from above, bent at a strong 

 angle ; internasals moderate, not quite as long as prefrontals ; 

 latter form their longest suture with each other, their sutures 

 with other scales being subequal in length ; frontal not twice 

 as long as wide, forming its longest suture with supraocular, 

 the suture with preocular being very small ; length of frontal 

 nearly equal to its distance from end of snout ; parietals longer 

 than but not as wide as frontal, bounded behind by 3 enlarged 

 scales, 1 medially and 2 laterally ; nostril pierced between 2 



* Casto de Elera lists Lycodon modestum Schlegel (= Stec/onotns mo- 

 destiim) ; Lycodon baiidi Steindachner (= Psammodi,nwstcs pulverulentns) ; 

 Lycodon culcullatmn {:^ Steijovotus culcullatiis) , which probably does not 

 occur in the Philippines; and Lycodon capKchnis, which is a variety of 

 Ophites aulicus. 



