| OCR Text |
Show 1869.] MR. G. KREFFT ON NEW AUSTRALIAN SNAKES. 321 Head very flat; rostral not quite so high as in V. annulata ; vertical and occipitals more elongate. Head, body, and tail covered by fifty-nine elliptical spots, which, only in a few instances near the tail, join beneath, but very faint and scarcely a line in width. On the middle of the back these spots are about g inch wide. Hab. The Upper Burdekin. A single specimen in the Museum collection. DENISONIA, Krefft. Head high and quadrangular, distinct from trunk, regularly shielded, but with a large loreal, which is absent in all other Australian venomous Snakes. Body not very elongate. DENISONIA ORNATA. (Fig. 7.) The present species is a very peculiar form on account of the loreal shield, which in the venomous Colubrine Snakes is, I believe, generally absent. The head is rather thick, distinct from trunk, high, and quadrangular, with shelving snout; and in this respect resembles the genus Acanthophis. The markings of the upper and lower labials, the chin-shields, and the first ten or fifteen abdominal plates are almost identical with those of young Death-adders of the first year. The occiput is black from the posterior frontals to the commencement of the neck, leaving a mottled spot on the inner margin of the superciliaries, and another very small one at the posterior part of the vertical. The tips of the two occipitals and the scale between them are also light-coloured; and below these is another whitish spot formed by the inner portions of eight scales with a darker centre. The occipitals are slightly raised above the eye, and resemble in this respect the same scales in Acanthophis. The frontals are shelving downwards; and the rostral is very low, and not visible from above if the head is put in a horizontal position. Body and tail above lead-coloured, beneath whitish; the abdominals with browii spots in the corner of each plate, which become faint towards the tail. Fig. 7. Denisonia ornata. Hab. Mr. Thomas Nobbs, a liberal donor to the Museum, discovered this new Snake near Rockhampton, in Queensland. EMYDOCEPHALUS, Krefft. Anterior half of the trunk rounded, posterior part compressed; ventral plates well developed. Head shielded, gape of mouth short |
