AUSTRALIAN SNAKES. 37 
SECOND SUBORDER. 
VENOMOUS COLUBRINE SNAKES. 
(OPHIDIT COLUBRIFORMES VENENOSI.) 
Snakes with an erect immovable grooved or perforated fang in front 
of the maxillary. 
Two families inhabit Australia— 
1. Enaripaz es oe aes .. Tail conical, tapering. 
2. HypRoPHIDz... Ags i ... Tail strongly compressed, paddle-shaped.- 
FAMILY OF ELAPIDES—E£LA PID. 
Body cylindrical or subcylindrical, tail rather short, tapering ; 
head with the normal number of shields above; no loreal, except in one 
species; eye not very large, pupil rounded or elliptical. The venom fang 
shows a distinct groove along its front, and the interior canal terminates 
in a slit at the extremity. 
The snakes of this family inhabit all the tropical regions, but 
‘principally Australia, the island of Tasmania being their most southern 
limit. 
Some of these reptiles, such as the deadly Brown-banded Snake 
(Hoplocephalus curtus), the Broad-scaled Snake (Hoplocephalus superbus), 
and the Black Snake (Pseudechis porphyriacus), have the power to dilate the 
skin in the neck, and are related to the Cobras of India; others, such as the 
Black-and-white-ringed Snake (Vermicella occipitalis), are allied to South 
American genera. We shall not attempt to make any subdivision, but 
enumerate the various species according to Giinther’s Catalogue of Snakes 
in the British Museum, including the Death Adder in this family. 
