34 
AUSTRALIAN SNAKES. 
the labials. The nasal shield is very broad, with a deep pit, shaped like a 
bean, and much produced backwards. Head moderate; body thick, 
compressed; anal spurs small. Color light brown, with a series of 
darker rings, which become indistinct near the sides; below yellowish- 
white here and there, with a few dark blotches; head and neck jet-black 
above and below. Total length, 7' 10". 
This reptile is probably as large, if not larger, than the Hock Snakes 
of New South Wales, hut at present little or nothing is known about it. 
The first specimen which the Museum received was captured by Mr. Bain- 
bird, the well-known collector at Port Denison; it was met with subse¬ 
quently on the Burdekin, at Cleveland Bay, and Cape York. 
It may he distinguished at once by the jet-black head and neck. 
The scales are smaller than those of the Diamond or Carpet Snake, in 
fifty-two rows, and the belly plates very narrow, more than 300 from neck 
to vent. Northern settlers will hear in mind that venomous snakes have 
generally from fifteen to twenty-six rows of scales only, so that by 
counting the number of scales the harmless nature of some snakes may 
he ascertained. 
LI-A.SIS, Gray. 
Head scalv, with symmetrical shields on the muzzle to between the 
eyes: vertical plate single; nostrils lateral, in a single shield, with a 
groove behind; eyes lateral; pupil oblong, erect; upper and lower labial 
shields pitted ; scales smooth; subcaudal plates two-rowed. 
Children’s Bock Snake. Liasis childrenii. 
Liasis cliildrenii, Gray, Cat. of Snakes in Col. B. AL,p. 92. 
There are hut few Australian snakes not represented in the Sydney 
Museum, and this species is one of them. It has the first three or four of 
the upper lip-sliields pitted, and four of the plates on the lower jaw (those 
preceding the last three) indented in the same manner. 
In Dr. J. E. Gray’s Catalogue of Snakes the color is described as 
purplish brown; hack with a central series of oblong, transverse, dark 
spots; sides with two series of roundish black spots, beneath white ; upper 
lip with a dark streak to the angle of the mouth. 
