AUSTRALIAN SNAKES. 23 
RicHarpson’s Water Snake. Myron richardsonii. 
Myron richardsonii. Gray, Cat. of Snakes in Col. B. I, p. 70. 
Scales keeled, black with alternate olive and many black cross bands ; 
sides white spotted ; beneath white ventral shields dark edged with dusky 
central longitudinal streaks. A single reptile in the British Museum, 
obtained by Sir John Richardson on the North-west Coast of Australia. 
FAMILY OF DAY TREE SNAKES—DENDROPHIDZ. 
This group of reptiles, like other non-venomous snakes, has few 
representatives in Australia; two species only have been discovered. They 
live in trees, and feed on frogs, lizards, young birds, and probably birds’ 
eggs. The scales on the sides are generally narrow, with a row of larger 
scales on the back; the ventral plates have a sharp keel on each side, 
enabling the animal to climb with great facility. Australian Tree Snakes 
have teeth of equal size, the last tooth being the strongest of the series. 
DENDROPHIS, Boie. ‘ 
Body and tail very elongate, slender, compressed; head rather 
depressed, oblong, with the snout obtusely rounded in front. Eye rather 
large, with round pupil ; nostril lateral, between two nasals; shields of 
the head regular; scales smooth in Australian specimens, in thirteen rows, 
and those of the vertebral series more or less enlarged; the other scales 
very imbricate and elongate, narrow, and quadrilateral; ventral shields 
keeled; anal bifid; posterior maxillary teeth not enlarged or grooved. 
GREEN TREE SNAKE. Dendrophis punctulata. 
(Plates IV and V, figs. 6, 6a.) 
Dendrophis punctulata. Gray, Gthr’s. Cat. of Colubr. Snakes, B. M., p. 149. 
Scales in 12 or 13 rows. 
Abdominals, 207 or more. 
Two anal plates. 
Subcaudals, 106/106 or more. 
Total length, 5 to 6 feet. 
Head, 14 inch. 
Tail, 14 inches. 
