172 SNAKES OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 



Remarks.— This species appears to be confined to Palawan 

 and Balabac, and possibly also enters the Calamianes, north 

 of Palawan. Outside Philippine territory it is known in south- 

 ern India, Malay Peninsula, and East Indies. The species is 

 arboreal. It is harmless. 



DENDRELAPHIS MODESTUS Boulenger 



Plate 13, figs. 6 and 7 



Dendrelaphis modestus Boulenger, Cat. Snakes Brit. Mus. 2 (1894) 



91, pi. 4, fig. 4; Griffin, Philip. Journ. Sci. § D 6 (1911) 261; 



Taylor, Philip. Journ. Sci. § D 12 (1917) 359. 

 ? Dendrelaphis fulifjinosus Griffin, Philip. Journ. Sci. § A 4 (1909) 



55; § D 6 (1911) 261; Taylor, Philip. Journ. Sci. § D 12 (1917) 



359. 



Description of species.— {Yxom No. 184, E. H. Taylor collec- 

 tion; collected at Isabela, Occidental Negros, at about 300 

 meters elevation, October 8, 1915, by E. H. Taylor.) (Adult 

 male.) Head rather slenderer than in Dendrelaphis terrificus, 

 distinct from body ; rostral three-fourths as deep as wide, form- 

 ing subequal sutures with internasals and nasals, rather pointed 

 behind, broadly visible from above; internasals about as broad 

 as long, sutures with nasal curved ; prefrontals large, extending 

 down on side to level of middle of eye, much wider than deep, 

 longer than internasals; frontal one and two-fifths times as 

 long as broad, equal to or a little less than its distance from 

 end of snout, longer and wider than supraocular; parietals 

 longer than frontal, longer than wide, with a row of 8 rather 

 enlarged occipital scales bordering temporals and parietals 

 posteriorly; nasal divided in subequal parts, both the same 

 height; loreal elongate, two and a half times as long as high; 

 preocular visible from above as a point, widely separated from 

 frontal, widened above, coming to a point below ; supraocular 

 slightly projecting; 2 postoculars, the suj)erior, largest, touching 

 parietal, the inferior in contact with both anterior temporals; 

 temporals 2 + 2 -|- 2, increasing greatly in size posteriorly; 9 

 upper labials, fifth and sixth entering eye; 10 lower labials, 

 5 touching anterior chin shields, which are wider and but little 

 shorter than posterior pair; scales in 13 rows, the median row 

 slightly enlarged and slightly .differentiated from the lateral 

 rows, but without pits ; scales of other rows with pits ; scales 

 somewhat rectangular, overlapping on sides ; ventrals and sub- 

 caudals with lateral keels and notches ; ventrals 169 ; anal double ; 

 subcaudals 107; length of eye equal to or minutely less than 



