OCR Text |
Show 1877.] FISHES F R O M DUKE-OF-YORK ISLAND. 131 scales in seventeen rows, all keeled ; ventrals 196, anal bifid 99 ; anterior frontals truncated in front; loreal as high as long; two praeoculars, the upper just reaching to the upper surface of the head ; three postoculars, the lower of which is the narrowest and smallest; 9 upper labials, the fifth and sixth entering the orbit; temporals 2 + 3, the two anterior in contact with the postocular. The dentition is syncranterian, almost isodont. Upper parts brownish olive, with small blackish and whitish spots longitudinally arranged. Lower part of the anterior half of the trunk whitish, with a series of black spots along the median line of the abdomen, each scute having a black spot. In the middle of the length of the trunk the dark colour of the sides gradually encroaches on the scutes, which, on the hinder half of the body and on the tail, are uniform blackish. One specimen, thirty-two inches long, the length of the tail being nine inches. DENDROPHIS MACROPS, sp. n. This Snake is distinguished from Dendrophis solomonis by its large eye, the diameter of which exceeds its distance from the nostril. Scales in thirteen rows ; loreal large, longer than high ; eight or nine upper labials, two of which enter the orbit; one praeocular Fig. 2. Head of Dendrophis macrops. not extending to the vertical; two postoculars; temporals irregularly arranged, 2 + 2 + 2; ventrals 195, strongly keeled; subcaudals 140 ; vertebral scales of moderate size ; upper parts uniform olive-coloured ; scales with an elongate white spot on the outer margin ; upper part of head brownish olive ; lower parts uniform greenish. One specimen, forty-six inches long, the tail being fourteen inches. EREBOPHIS, g. n. Erycid. Body stout and thick, covered with short scales^ which are arranged in numerous rows, and provided with exceedingly strong keels. Head resembling that of a Crotaline snake, covered above and on the side with numerous scales ; rostral flat, truncated, oblique, not extending to the upper surface of the snout; nostril very small, in the middle of an oblong shield ; eyes small, surrounded by small scales ; ventrals rather narrow ; tail very short, slightly prehensile, with a single series of subcaudals ; teeth in both jaws numerous, the anterior of the maxillary, mandible, and palatine bones much enlarged i tongue remarkably slender ; no rudiments of hind limbs. 9* |