1847.] Malayan Peninsula and Islands. 1033 



Bungarus flaviceps, J. Reinhardt. 



Young. — Head and neck blood-red, with a pointed elongated black 

 mark between the occipital s, and a short black dorsal line on the neck ; 

 the trunk black with steel-blue reflections, at the anterior part of each 

 dorsal hexagonal scale a short longitudinal white streak ; near the tail 

 blood-red ; each scale of the two lowest lateral series, white with a black 

 spot, placed so as to produce a continued lateral, white zig-zag line ; the 

 posterior part of the sides blood-red. Lips and throat blood-red ; ab- 

 domen black, posterior part as well as the tail blood-red, with a few 

 black spots. Iris and tongue black. 



Scuta abdominalia 209, Scuta sub-caudalia 16 ; Scutella 38. 



Habit. — Pinang. 

 Java. 



M. J. Reinhardt has described the adult from an unique specimen 

 in the Royal Museum, Copenhagen. Spirits of wine change the brilli- 

 ant blood-red to a pale yellow colour. The diagnosis must ^therefore 

 be altered accordingly. The adult appears to differ from the young, 

 in having none of the black marks of the head and tail, and no lateral 

 white line. 



A single young individual, found by Sir William Norris, on the Great 

 Hill of Pinang, was of the following dimensions : 



Length of the head, ft. Of inch. 



Ditto ditto trunk, 1 4f 



Ditto ditto tail, 8 3 



1 ft. 8f inch. 



Circumference of the neck 1, of the trunk If, of the root of the tail 

 f inch. 



The centre of the back forms a ridge, from whence the sides slope ; 

 the abdomen is broad, slightly arched, so that the vertical section of the 

 body becomes broad triangular. The neck is covered by 15, the trunk 

 by 13 longitudinal series of smooth, imbricate, rhomboidal scales. As 

 observed by M. J. Reinhardt, the correspondence of colours, and their 

 distribution, between this species and Elaps bivirgatus is very striking. 

 Besides, the number of series of scales, is another character, approximat- 

 ing this species to the genus Elaps, 



