AUSTRALIAN SNAKES. 
•17 
There was a rumour at one time that the sexes were different in 
coloration, but this is not the case, as the large series of specimens in the 
collection of the Australian Museum sufficiently proves. It inhabits 
nearly every part of Australia, but is not found in Tasmania; the reptile 
known under the name of “ Black Snake” in that island is a dark variety 
of the Uoplocephalus curtus or Brown-handed Snake, and identical with 
Eoploceplialus fuscus (Steindachner), lately described by that well-known 
Austrian naturalist as a new species. 
The present reptile grows to a considerable size, hut seldom, if ever, 
exceeds six feet in length. 
Orange-bellied Brown Snake. Pseudechis australis. 
(Plate YI, figs. 11 and 11a.) 
Naja australis, Gray , Zool. Misc p. 55. 
Pseudechis australis, Gunther, Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist., 3rd Series, vol. XII, p. 362. 
Scales in 17 rows. 
Two anal plates. 
Abdominals, 199. 
Subcaudals, 31|. 
Head, 1^ inch. 
Tail, 10 inches. 
Total length, about 3 feet 6 inches. 
This species is considered to he a variety of the Black Snake, and 
for such it has generally been taken by the few observers who have seen it 
in a state of nature. Dr. Gray’s description of “ light brown above and 
yellowish below” answers perfectly to preserved specimens, but when 
alive the colors differ more or less. 
The back and sides are of a bright copper color, the outer row of 
scales having a rich orange spot in the centre of each scale; the abdominal 
plates are of deep yellow or orange, each plate having a darker margin, 
and its sides red or orange spotted. The general structure of the scales, 
shape of the head, and distribution of colors, is exactly as in the Black 
Snake. The nine principal head-shields cover a slightly larger space than 
those of the Pseudechis porphyriacus, and the vertical shield has a different 
shape, the anterior margin being broader than the posterior one, which 
is the reverse in the Black Snake. Comparing the heads of both species, 
we find that of P. australis flatter and larger. 
