194 SNAKES OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 



tinguishes it at once not only from these Calamarians but from 

 all other species known from the Philippines and in fact from 

 most of the species of the genus. C. gracillina from Borneo, 

 exceeds it in having 300 and more ventrals, but it lacks pre- 

 ocular and has no distinct postocular. C. collaris, from Cele- 

 bes, has from 232 to 265 ventrals but has a much larger eye, 

 and a very different style of coloration." 



CALAMARIA TROPICA sp. nov. 



Type. — No. 887, E. H. Taylor collection; collected on the low 

 coastal mountains near Naujan, Mindoro, May 2, 1916, by E. H. 

 Taylor. 



Description of itjpe. — (Juv.) Rostral about as high as broad, 

 vv'ell visible above ; prefrontals large, not entering eye, later- 

 ally in contact with first and second labials, their mutual suture 

 scarcely longer than suture with frontal ; latter one and a half 

 times as long as broad, longer than its distance from end of 

 snout, slightly shorter than parietals, more than twice as long 

 and twice as wide as supraoculars ; parietals much longer than 

 wide, in contact with postocular and fifth labial ; nostril pierced 

 in a minute nasal ; a small triangular loreal present, touching 

 second and third labials ; a single narrow preocular ; postocular 

 a little higher than wide ; no anterior temporals ; 6 labials, third 

 and fourth entering orbit, fifth largest; mental moderate, not 

 as wide as rostral, in contact with 2 large anterior chin shields, 

 which are nearly twice the length of second pair, second pair 

 of chin shields forming a mutual suture nearly half their length ; 

 .5 lower labials, the 3 anterior touching first chin shields ; scales 

 in 13 smooth rows; anal single; ventrals 150; subcaudals 19; 

 body cyhndrical; tail ending in a blunt point; eye wider than 

 its distance to mouth. 



Color in life. — Iridescent brown with numerous irregular dark 

 dots; a more or less regular series of yellowish cream dots on 

 outer row of scales, and another, less distinct, on third row; 

 neck with a dark brown bar five scales wide, with a yellow-cream 

 bar one or two scales wide behind it which unites with the yellow- 

 cream ventral color ; top of head same as ground color of back 

 with numerous dots and flecks of darker ; a yellow-cream irreg- 

 ular line on prefrontal; dark color on upper head, on rostral 

 and upper parts of labials; a very small dark area on upper 

 anterior part of fifth labial ; the yellow-cream color on sides fails 

 to meet medially to form a collar in front of dark nuchal bar; 

 chin and belly immaculate; a dark line crosses outer edges of 

 ventrals ; a median subcaudal dark line. 



