158 " OPHIDIA. 



are two pairs of sublanceolated mental shields, nearly equal in size. 

 The throat is covered by scale-like shields. 



The body is very long, subcylindrical, deeper than wide, a little 

 thicker upon its middle, diminishing very gradually forwards and 

 backwards. The tail is short, forming a little less than the eighth 

 of the entire length; it tapers into a point, remaining deeper than wide 

 throughout. The scales are smooth, disposed upon nineteen longitu- 

 dinal series, subrhomboid, broader on the middle of the sides than 

 on the dorsal line, where they have a tendency to a sublanceolated 

 shape, broader also than on the series adjoining the abdominal scu- 

 tellae ; they are smaller on the neck and larger on the tail than on 

 the body ; at the base of the tail, they are disposed upon eleven or 

 twelve longitudinal series. The abdominal region being quite narrow, 

 the scutellae are transversely short, though otherwise well-developed. 

 They are two hundred and seventy-eight in number, the last two 

 being subdivided. The subcaudal scutellae are disposed upon a double 

 series, sixty-four in number. 



The total length of the specimen figured and described is fifty inches; 

 six inches belonging to the tail. 



The upper regions of the head, body, and tail are reddish-violet. A 

 few yellowish-white spots may be observed on the head, whilst trans- 

 verse lines of the same hue are seen on the neck and body, covering 

 but one scale, inclosing three or four scales of the ground color. These 

 lines become very obsolete posteriorly, but, wherever they exist, they 

 divide the color of the back into transverse, oblong, or subelliptical 

 areas. The inferior region of the head and body is pearl-colored ; the 

 subcaudal region being maculated with the tint of the back. 



Loc. — The specimen figured and described was collected in the 

 neighborhood of Singapore. 



Plate XI, fig. 7, represents Cantoria violacea, size of life. 



Fig. 8, is a profile of the head. 



Fig. 9, an upper view ; and 



Fig. 10, an under view of the same region. 



