58 AUSTRALIAN SNAKES. 
SrepHENs’ BANDED Snake. Hoplocephalus stephensit. 
(Plate VI, fig. 7.) 
Hoplocephalus stephensii, spec. nov. 
Scales in 21 rows. 
Abdominal plates, 239. 
One anal plate. 
Subcaudals, 60. 
Head, 1% inch. 
Tail, 44 inches. 
Total length, 30 inches. 
Body rather elongate, with flat quadrangular belly ; a kind of sharp 
fold, almost amounting to a keel (similar to that in the genus Dendrophis), 
runs from the neck to the vent on each side, defining the middle portion 
of the abdominal scales, and leaving a part the size of a scale on the sides 
of the body. 
The head is not so broad and distinct from the trunk as in 
H. variegatus, but it is rather large, and has its scales similarly arranged ; 
the occipitals are more elongate, and the vertical broader, with a sharp 
angle behind, cutting-in between them even more than is shown in 
our figure. 
Thirty-eight black bands, or rather half-bands, cover the back from 
the head to the vent, and seven or eight the tail, those of the hinder part 
of the body being occasionally interrupted and irregular. Thirty-seven 
dirty white bands, half the size of the black ones, divide them, and both 
reach down to the ventral fold or keel, giving color to that part of the 
ventrals accordingly (either black or white). The chin shields, and the first 
twenty or thirty ventrals are spotted with yellow, the abdominal scales 
then assume a light lead color, becoming darker towards the tail. The 
head is less dark than that of HZ. variegatus, not so much spotted, and the 
stripe or loop, a scale wide, reaching from the eye to the occiput on each 
side, is very regular. 
The principal difference between the two snakes is the sharp edge on 
each side of the ventrals,* the distinct and clearly defined bands upon the 
back, and the variation of color in the outer row of scales and the corners of 
* The ventral plates are deeply cut out on each side. 
