AUSTRALIAN SNAKES. 
33 
ASPIDIOTES, Krefft. 
Crown covered with broad shields, reaching behind the eyes; the 
remaining part of the head scaly; labial shields without pits, the front 
ones high and narrow, the hinder ones lower and broad. Nostrils lateral, 
in the middle of a plate; two loreals; two anterior and four posterior 
oculars; superciliaries broad, rather prominent above the eye; nasal shield 
very large, much produced backwards, and deeply grooved on its lower 
edge. Scales smooth, in fifty-two series on the middle of the body; 
ventral plates rather narrow; subcaudals entire, except the last ten or 
twelve which are divided. Tail conical, prehensile, ending in a blunt 
point. Head rather high, of moderate size; teeth not very large (smaller 
than in Morelia). Body thick and compressed. 
Black-headed Snake. Aspidiotes melmocephalus. 
(Plate III and Plate Y, fig. 4.) 
Aspidiotes melanocephalus, Krefft. JProc. Zool. Soc., July 28 th 7 1864. 
Scales in 52 rows. 
Abdominals, 330, 
One anal plate. 
Subcaudals, 5111. 
Total length, 8 feet or more. 
Head, 3 inches. 
Tail, 12 inches. 
Head rather high; body thick and compressed; tail conical, taper¬ 
ing, prehensile, ending in a blunt point; anal spurs small; ten upper 
labials, the sixth coming into the orbit; two anterior and four posterior 
ocular shields ; two loreals, the second nearest to the eye very small; one 
nasal, pierced by the nostril; eye moderate, pupil elliptical, erect. Three 
pairs of frontal shields, the middle pair longest; vertical broad, the largest 
shield of the head, with an obtuse angle in front and an acute one behind; 
sides rounded; superciliaries large, and prominent above the eyes; occipitals 
distinct, but smaller than the vertical ones, and forked and rounded behind; 
the first pair of frontals small, and triangular; the second pair five-sided, 
and nearly as large again as the first; the third smaller than the second 
larger than the first, and quadrangular. Of the fourteen lower labial shields, 
the first seven are narrow and elongate, the rest broad; no groove upon 
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