274 SNAKES OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 



BOULENGER, Fauna Brit. India, Kept. (1890) 38fi ; Casto m Eleka, 

 Cat. Fauna Filipinas 1 1895) 441. 

 Maxillary extending forward beyond palatine, with a pair of 

 large grooved poison fangs but no other teeth ; mandibular teetli 

 subequal ; prefrontal bones in contact with each other on median 

 line; head small, not distinct from neck; eye small with round 

 pupil; nostril between 2 nasals; no loreal; body subcylindrical, 

 elongate; scales smooth, without pits, in 13 rows; ventrals 

 rounded ; tail short ; subcaudals in 2 rows ; poison glands elongate, 

 extending far into body cavity, gradually thickening, and ter- 

 minating in a club-shaped end. 



Key to the Philippine species of Doliophis Girard.* 

 a\ Eye about half as long as its distance from mouth; frontal as long 

 as, or a little shorter than, its distance from end of snout. 



D. philippinus (Gtinther) (p. 277). 



a\ Eye much more than half as long- as its distance from mouth; frontal 



as long as its distance from rostral..-. D. bilineatus (Peters) (p. 274). 



The genus is a comparatively small one, comprising only four 

 species. It is distributed from Burma and Cochin China through 

 the Malay Peninsula into the East Indian Archipelago, as far 

 as Celebes. Two species are found in the Philippines which 

 appear to be confined to the Archipelago. Doliophis bilineatus 

 appears to be confined to Palawan, the Calamian Islands, Balabac, 

 and Mindanao. The other, D. philippinus, occurs over the east- 

 ern part of the Islands, specimens being recorded from Luzon 

 and Mindanao. 



These species are both small, and are usually brightly colored 

 on the belly with black and .vellow or red bars. The tail has broad 

 black and red rings. The snakes are poisonous, but the extent 

 of the deadliness of the poison is not known. It is probable that 

 it is ciuite as deadly as that of the other Elapine snakes, but the 

 smaller size, with the consequent reduced size of the fangs, prob- 

 ably makes these snakes harmless to man under ordinary circum- 

 stances. Doliophis biliiteatiis is a common snake in Palawan, 

 but D. pliilippiviis appears to be extremely rare everywhere. 



DOLIOPHIS BILINEATUS (Peters) 



Plate :'>4, figs. .") and 6; Plate 35, fig. :3 

 Callopliis biliiieutiis Peters, Sitz. Ber. Ges. Nat. Fr. Berlin (1881) 

 109; Boettger, Ber. Senck. Nat. Ges. (1886) 117. 



'■' Boulenger, Catalog-ue, states that the two genera Doliopliis and Callo 

 pJiis are the same, save that in the former the poison glands extend alone 

 the sides of the body foi- one-third of the length, terminating in club 

 shaped ends in front of the heart. Heart shifted very far back. 



