DISTRIBUTION OF OPHIDIANS. 
235 
stant local varieties, though only distinguishable by a 
slightly different disposition of the colours : to this number 
pertain the Tortrix rufa, the Coluber melanurus, the Her- 
petodryas oxycephalus, the Dryiophis prasina, the Dipsas 
dendrophila, and the Tropidonotus chrysargus. Among 
the Moluccas^ there is only the Island of Amboina of which 
the productions are in the least known. There are seen 
three or four species of Snakes which are also seen in J ava ; 
but it does not seem that the Sunda isles afford the Lyco- 
don modestus, the Boa carinata, the Dendrophis rhodo- 
pleuron, nor the Python amethystinus. Timor is in some 
degree intermediate, as regards its productions, between 
Java and the Moluccas ; we find there many animals of 
the former, whilst there exist there a good number that 
also live in the archipelago just mentioned. The Python 
of Timor is perhaps different from that of Amboina ; a 
very curious Homalopsis, H. leucobalia, has been there 
discovered ; the Lycodon Hebe of that island has its tints 
deeper than the variety of Java ; and the Coluber radiatus 
is represented in Timor by an analogous, yet different 
species. Col. subradiatus. New Guinea^ with the adjacent 
islands, all shewing, more or less, analogy with the other 
Malayasian Islands, on the other hand, approximates to New 
Holland, by the presence of certain animals, as the Pe- 
taurus. Kangaroos, the Perameles, &c. M. Muller has 
discovered a very curious Zonurus, an almost blind Acon- 
tias, a Typhlops of singular form, a very remarkable 
horned Frog, a new Ceratophrys, a very beautiful Monitor, 
a Scink of very anomalous structure, and many other very 
beautiful and unknown Beptiles. There also exist in that 
island several new species of Serpents, as the Tropidonotus 
picturatus, the Flaps Miilleri, species which are also found 
at Waigiou. It remains that I should say a few words on 
the Philippine Islands^ of which the zoology is only known 
by a few objects, collected in the vicinity of Manilla in the 
Isle of Lu^on, the study of which has given rise to the curi- 
ous remark, that there exists a great analogy between certain 
productions of that island and of Ceylon. This fact is very 
striking, at least in regard to serpents, of which several 
species have never been observed, except in those two 
