60 
AUSTRALIAN SNAKES. 
pointed behind, pierced by the nostril; six upper labials. Scales moderate, 
rhomboidal, in fifteen rows; anal entire. Grooved longer tooth in front, 
a series of smaller ones behind. Above uniformly blackish olive, beneath 
uniformly yellowish; centre of each subcaudal with an obsolete dark spot; 
scales of the outer rows with yellowish apex; head uniform light brownish 
olive. 
This species is viviparous. In the oviduct of the specimen whose 
measurements here are stated, two perfectly developed embryos were 
observed. Length of cleft of mouth, length of tail, 3"; total length, 24". 
II. pallidiceps is allied to II. variegatus and stephensii, and has a 
broad head and keeled ventrals; it is one of the smaller species, which 
seldom exceed thirty inches in length, and whose hite would not be 
dangerous to man. This snake is rather rare, and does not occur near 
Sydney. The Australian Museum contains specimens from the Lachlan, 
the Clarence, and the Richmond River, and from many parts of Queens¬ 
land. The most northern specimens were obtained at Port Denison. 
Gould’s Snake. Hoploceplialus gouldii. 
(Plate XII, fig. 2.) 
Elaps gouldii, Oral/, in Capt. Grey's Australia , p. 444, pi. 5, fig. 1 ; Gunther , Cat. of 
Colubr. Snalces in Col. B. M !, p. 215. 
Scales in 15 rows. 
Abdominal plates, 159. 
One anal plate. 
Subcaudals, 28. 
Total length, 17 inches. 
Head, f inch. 
Tail, 2 inches. 
Pale yellowish; the scales of the hack small, six-sided, with a dark 
anterior margin, giving the back a netted appearance. Top of the head 
and nape hlack, with a yellow spot on the rostral scale on each side just 
before the eyes. Head small, the occipital plates large, elongate ; the nasal 
plate triangular; one moderate anterior, and two subequal posterior ocular 
shields; six upper and lower labial shields, the fourth under the eyes; 
