56 
AUSTRALIAN SNAKES. 
General color, black, cliin-shields whitish on onter margin; beneath 
bluish black, clouded with a somewhat lighter tint on the posterior part. 
Head scarcely distinct from trunk, high, quadrangular, and obtuse 
in front; anterior frontals as large again as the posterior ones, vertical five¬ 
sided, just as long as broad; occipitals very large, and widely forked; six 
upper labials, the fifth largest, and leaving but one narrow temporal shield 
above it; behind this there are two more temporals, of which the upper is 
the largest. The occipitals do not come into contact with more than three 
scales on each side, whilst one scale is wedged in between the fork, 
making seven scales in all. There are seven lower labials, one nasal, one 
anterior, and two postoculars ; the pupil is rounded. 
Habitat, blinders’ Range, South Australia. Discovered by Mr. 
George Masters, who found but one specimen. 
Broad-headed Snake. Hoploceplialus variegatus. 
(Plate YI, figs. 6, 6a, 6b.) 
Alecto variegata, Bum . Sf Bibr., p. 1254. 
Hajse bungaroides, Sdhleg ., jE ss. II, p. 577. 
Naja3 bungaroides, Boie ., Isis, 1828, p. 1034. 
Naja bungaroides, Schlegel, Ess. II, p. 477, and Abbild., t. 48, f. 17, 18. 
Alecto bungaroides, Bum. ty Bibr., p. 1257. 
Hoploceplialus bungaroides, Gunther, Cat. Colubr. Snakes in Cat. Brit. Mus., p. 213. 
Hoploceplialus variegatus, Gunther, ibid., p. 214. 
Scales in 21 rows. 
Abdominal plates, 210 or more. 
One anal plate. 
Subcaudals in a single series, from 40 to 50 or more. 
Total length of adult, 3 feet. 
Head, 1 inch. 
Tail, 4 inches. 
Body and tail of moderate size; head flat, broad behind, and very 
distinct from the neck; two outer rows of scales of bright yellow, and a spot 
of the same color in the corner of each ventral plate. The yellow mark¬ 
ings become indistinct towards the tail, and are sometimes quite obliterated, 
though one of the outer rows shows the spots generally as far as where 
