AUSTRALIAN SNAKES. 29 
Dr. Ginther observed an increase of temperature between the coils 
of the snakes incubating in the Gardens of the Zoological Society of 
London ; and he draws the conclusion that a higher degree of warmth is 
necessary for the development of embryonic Pythons than for other snakes. 
MORELIA, Gray. 
Head shields small, scale-like; frontal plates distinct, three pairs ; 
vertical plate small; rostral shield single, with a pit on each side; three 
front upper, and the hinder lower labials pitted ; nostrils lateral, in a single 
plate, with a groove beneath; eyes lateral, pupil elliptical, erect; scales, 
small, smooth; subcaudals two-rowed. 
Diamond Snake. WDorelia spilotes. 
(Plates I and V, figs. 1, 2.) 
Morelia spilotes, Gray. Cat. of the Specimens of Snakes in Col. Brit. Mus., p. 85. 
Scales in 47 rows. 
Abdominals, 276. 
Two anal plates. 
Subcaudals, 80/80. 
Total length, 8 to 10 feet. 
Head, 4 inches. 
Tail, 15 inches. 
One of the characteristics by which harmless Rock Snakes may be 
at once distinguished from poisonous serpents, is the large number of 
scales covering their body ; at present but one venomous species is known 
to have as many as twenty-six rows of scales, whilst Pythons or Rock 
Snakes have double that number. 
The Diamond Snake has the body scales in 47 rows, with about 
276 to 300 ventral plates, and the scales under the tail divided into 
80/80 or 90/90 or more. The subcaudal plates vary in almost every 
individual, as the much-used prehensile tail is liable to be injured or 
broken, and is not in the latter case reproduced like the tail of lizards. 
The general colour of the Diamond Snake is a kind of bluish-black, very 
glossy when the skin is fresh, and the epidermis lately shed, but becoming 
duller after the wear and tear of a few months, and quite opaque just 
before the skin-shedding process begins. As a rule, Diamond Snakes. 
