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Show 72 REPTILIA. TniMEnEsunus, Lacep. Large plates on the head; part of their plates double, the others simple.( I) OPLOOEPHALUs, Cu v. Large plates on the head; all the sub-caudals simple.(2) AoANTHOPHxs, Daud.-OPHRIAs, Merr. Plates on the fore-part of the cranium and head; tail terminated by a hook; almost all its scales simple, the extreme sub-caudal ones sometimes double.(3) EoHxs, Merr.-SoYTALE, Daud. The head covered with small scales; all the sub-caudal pJates simple.( 4) LANGAHA, Brug. Head covered with plates; muzzle salient and pointed; anterior half of the tail completely encircled with entire rings, and the posterior covered above and beneath with small imbricated scales.( 5) In addition to these two tribes of Serpents, properly so styled, a third has lately been recognized, in which the organization and armature of the jaws are nearly the same as in the non-venomous serpents, but where the first maxillary tooth, larger than the others, is perforated for the transmission of the poison, as in the venomous serpents with isolated fangs. These serpents form two genera, distinguished, like those of the two neighbouring families, by the covering of the belly and the under part of the tail. ( 1) The Trimerbnvre a petite tete, Lacep. Am. Mus. IV, lvi, 1. (2) The species are new. (3) .B.cantlwphia ceraatinua, Daud., V, lxxvii; and Merr. Beytr. II, ix, or Boa palpebroaa, Sh. ;-.B.c. Brownii, Leach, Zool. Miscell. I, iii, the most venomous reptile that is found in the environs of Port Jackson. ( 4) Horatia pam., Russel, 11, pl. 2, or Boa horatta, Sh., or Paeudoboa carinata, Schn., or Scytale bizonata, Daud., V, lxx;-Pseudoboa krait, Schn., or Scytale krait, Daud. (5) The Langalta of Madagascar, Lacep. T, xxii, a Serpent only known by the figure ofBrugiere. ~PJ:HIHA. 73 BuNGARUs,(l) Daud. llartim.-PsEunoBoA, Oppel. . Subventral and subcaudal plates, simple, as in Boa, Crotalus, &c.; head, short, and covered with large plates; occiput but slightly enlarged. Their most distinguishing character is a longitudinal range of scales on the back, which is strongly carinate, broader than the lateral ones, as in Dipsas. They are all from India, where they are termed Rock Snakes. One species attains a length of seven or eight feet.(2) Hvnnus, Schn., partim.(3)-Hydropllis and Pelamis; Daud. Posterior part of the body and tail strougJy compressed, and much raised vertically; a circumstance, which, by enabling them to swim, renders them aquatic. They are very common in certain latit~des of the Indian Ocean. On account of their (nearly all) small scales, Linn reus cJassed such of them as he knew with the Anguines. Daudin has subdivided them as follows: H YDROPfUS.( 4) A range of scales on the belly somewhat larger than the others, as in 1'ortrix; head smalJ, not inflated, obtuse, and furnished with large pJates. Several species have been found in the salt water canals of Bengal and others in the Indian Ocean.( 5) PELAMIS. Large plates on the head, but the occiput inflated on account of the length of the pedicles of the lower jaw, which is extremely dila- (1) Bunga1"U8, a barbarous term drawn from that of Bungarum-pamma, the name by which the largest spepies is known in Bengal. (2) The Bongare a anneattx, Daud., V, lxv, Boa fasciata, Schn., copied from Russel, 111.-Add tl1e Bong. bleu, Boa lineata, Sh. Russ., I. (3) Hydroa, the Greek name of an aquatic Serpent, perhaps of our common Coluber; but the Hydrua marinus of 1Elian is precisely of this genus. (4) Hydrophia, Water Serpent. (5) See the Hydrophis of Russel, Serp. Corom. pl. xliv, and part 1I, pl. vi-x. Add the H. curtua, Sh., the H. spiralia, Id. pl. 125 ;-the Leyoaelasme and the Dis· teyre, Lacep., An. Mus. IV, also belong to the subgenus Hydrophis; I even think the latter is the Hydrm major, Sh. pl. 124. They also are Serpents of the Indian Ocean, venomous and posse~sed of several maxillary teeth. N.R. 1 cannot agree with M. Fitzinger as to the harmlessness of the Pelamides and the Diateyrea; on the contrary, I have fully ascertained their poison gland and fangs to be organized like those of a Hydra or a Bungarus. As to the .llispysure, Lacep. An. Mus. IV, I have not been able to procure it. VoL. II.-K \ |