200 SNAKES OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 



seen were not taken. The snake was always found in low brush 

 and trees, invariably away from the ground. It makes no or 

 very little effort to fight. One specimen taken had just eaten 

 a bat. This subspecies is probably confined to Mindanao and 

 the near-by islands. Samar apparently has two forms of the 

 species. Boettger reports a specimen of Boiga dendrophila 

 latifasciata from there, and there is a specimen of B. denrlro- 

 phila divergens in the Santo Tomas Museum presumably from 

 Samar. 



BOIGA DENDROPHILA MULTICINCTA (Boulenger) 

 Plate 25; Plate 26, figs. 4 to 6 

 Dipsadomorphus dendrophilus var. multicinctus BouLENGER, Cat. 



Snakes Brit. Mus. 3 (1896) 71. 

 Boiga dendrophila midticincta Barbour, Mem. Mus. Comp. Zoo!. 

 Harvard ColL 44 (1912) 125. 



Descri-ption of subspecies. — Similar to Boiga dendrophila lati- 

 fasciata, but with a higher number of ventrals and subcaudals; 

 ventrals vary between 220 and 240, the average being 231 ; sub- 

 caudals vary between 10,5 and 115, the average being 111 ; there 

 are 11 instead of 10 lower labials; there is a decided tendency 

 for the seventh labial to break horizontally, thus in eight of the 

 thirteen specimens examined this division has occurred ; there 

 are only 2 pairs of chin shields present, and the number of 

 labials touching the first pair is 4 or 5. One specimen has 

 the loreal entering the eye below the preocular.* The temporal 

 elements frequently assume the position represented by the for- 

 mula .. +3. 



Color. — Body above black with a large series of narrow yel- 

 lowish to yellowish white bars on body and tail ; the number of 

 bars varies from 93 to 111, the average being 106; these light 

 bars are seldom more than 1 scale wide. 



Measurements of Boiga dendrophila nmltichteta {Boulenger) , No. 906, 

 Bureau of Seieiiee eoUeetiou. 



mm. 



Total length 1,100 



Snout to vent 900 



Tail OiiO 



Remarks. — This subspecies is common in Palawan and in Ba- 

 labac; I obtained the specimens in my own collection from the 

 latter locality. These do not differ from those found on the 

 Palawan mainland. 



* Boulenger records this same anomaly on a specimen in the British 

 Museum, op. cit. 70. 



