LYCODON CAP ENSIS. -Smith. 
Reptilia. — Plate V . (Female.) 
L. 
supra nitide nigro-viridis, purpureo tinctus ; capite lineis albis reticulate, corpora 
albis : infra viridi-flavus ; scutis abdominalibus 178; squamis subcaudalibus 37- 
squamis ad apices 
Longitudo corporis 1 2 unc. ; caudas 2 unc. 
Lycodon Capensis, South African Quarterly Journal, No. 5, page 18, June 1831. 
Lycodon Horstokii, Schlegel, Physiognomic des Serpens, 183i. 
Colour.— The upper surface of the head, the back and the upper parts of 
the sides glossy blackish green, faintly flushed with purple, and delicately 
variegated with white ; the latter colour is in the form of slender delicate lines 
upon the head, which are so interwoven as to exhibit a fine reticulated 
appearance ; on the other parts it occurs in the shape of minute specks, one 
close to the point of each scale. The upper lip, the lower parts of the sides, 
and the under surface of the body and tail, greenish or wine yellow, the latter 
with a longitudinal, zig-zag, dark stripe along its centre. Eyes livid green. 
The above were the colours of the individual represented in the plate, but 
such are not the colours most commonly exhibited by specimens of this spe- 
cies. All the individuals which I have seen, excepting the one described, have 
had the upper parts of a shining greenish brown colour, the head without varia- 
tions, and the scales along the middle of the back less distinctly marked with 
white specks than those of the sides ; the subcaudal stripe was also wanting. 
Form, &c. — Head rather short, somewhat ovate and much depressed, its 
sides slightly convex, more particularly towards the liindhead, which is not 
distinct from the neck ; pupils vertical and of an oval form ; eyes small, with 
two scales at the posterior angle, and one at the anterior; vertical plate large 
and triangular, occipital plates long and also somewhat triangular. Body 
subcylindrical, and slightly thicker at the middle than at the neck; from the 
former it tapers gradually to the tip of the tail, which is pointed. The scales 
are short, somewhat quadrangular, obtuse at the points, and disposed in 
transverse rows, each row, according as it may be traced, will appear either 
oblique, or bent and forming two sides of a triangle, the apex of which 
will be' situated on the middle of the back. One or two of the maxillary 
