which the nostril is pierced, and which is grooved both below and 
behind the nostril, while similarly in all there are one pre- and 
two post-oculars, and the eye is separated from the upper labials 
by two well-developed scales There is however one difference of 
importance which leads me to consider the Death Adder of northern 
Australia as specifically separable from the southern Australian 
form and from that of New Guinea, namely, the diversity in the 
shape of the pupil, which is erect and elliptical in A. antarcticus , 
and A. lewis, but round in A. prcelongus . In all other respects the 
three forms differ but slightly. 
Acantiiopiiis l^evis. 
Acanthophis he vis, Macleay , Proc. linn . Soc. JV .S. Wales , ii. p. 
40 ( 1877 ). 
Scales in twenty-one series ; abdominal plates from one-liundred 
and thirteen to one-hundred and seventeen ; anal plate entire ; 
sub-caudal plates forty-eight to fifty, sometimes all entire, some- 
times a part divided. Body short and but moderately robust, 
th/6 giving it a rather elongate appearance as compared with A. 
antarcticus / head broad, very distinct from the trunk; tail distinct 
from body, compressed into a blunt keel above, and terminating in 
a curved spur-like scale, which is bent upwards ; muzzle short, broad, 
and obtuse; eye small, lateral, the pupil elliptical and erect. Nostril 
pierced in a single large nasal, which extends so far backwards as, in 
conjunction with the posterior frontal, to replace the loreal shield ; 
rostral about three times as broad as high, rounded behind and 
extending well on to the upper surface of the head ; anterior and 
posterior frontals well developed, and sub-equal in size ; vertical 
shield large, the anterior facies obtusely angular, the posterior 
broadly rounded, the lateral margins parallel, or with a slight, 
scarcely perceptible, convergence ; occipitals a little longer than 
the vertical, and very much broader; supraciliary large, about 
equal in size to the vertical, the outer margin prominent and erect; 
a single large preocular ; two postoculars, the upper somewhat 
the larger ; two or three enlarged scales between the eye and the 
upper labials ; temporal shields in three series, the lower one of 
the first pair very large, and completely separating the two 
posterior upper labials, six upper labials, the third and fifth the 
largest, the third and fourth beneath the eye ; eight lower labials 
the first forming a broad suture behind the triangular mental, the 
second and last much smaller than the others ; the fourth the 
largest ; two pairs of elongate chin-shields ; a large lateral shield 
bordering the fourth and fifth lower labials. Scales of the head 
rugose ; about ten median series of dorsal scales unicarinate, the 
carinations extending even so far as the root of the tail, but grow- 
ing faint posteriorly. Colors — Ashy-gray above, white below ; 
some of the upper head-shields washed with chestnut; anterior 
upper labials closely mottled with black, white, and ash ; the two 
