ARBORIAL. GEN. DIPSAS, Laurenti. Head large, broad, depressed, cordate, covered with shields; neck narrow, trunk much narrower than the head, compressed, very long, beneath covered with scuta; tail cylindrical, imbricate. DIPSAS DENDROPHILA, Reinwardt. SYN.-Scheuchzer, 662, Fig. 11. (Col. variabilis, apud Merrem.) Dipsas dendrophila, Wagler, apud Horsfield: Life of Raffles. 'Head, back and sides intense black with steel-blue, lilac, and green reflections; beneath pale black, iridescent; body and tail with numerous bright yellow transversal bands, widened below, sometimes joined on the back or abdomen, occasionally reduced to irregular spots; throat and lips bright yellow, labials with black edges. Pupil elliptical, vertical; iris and tongue black. Scuta 218 to 225, Scutella 100 to 112. HABIT.-Pinang, Singapore, Malayan Peninsula. Java, Celebes. It inhabits the Malayan hills and valleys, but apparently in no great numbers. The largest individual measured: Ground-colour, above light greenish grey, minutely spotted and marbled with brown; on the head an angular, backwards diverging black mark with whitish edges; a black oblique line from behind the eyes to the hind head, where it joins a lozenge-shaped black spot with whitish edges; along the back and tail a series of large, irregularly oval, black spots with whitish edges, arranged in close quincunx series; the sides with numerous, similarly coloured, oblique or arched, often interrupted, bands; labials greenish white, black-edged; beneath greenish white, tinged with rose-colour, minutely spotted with brown, and with a double or treble lateral series of irregular black spots. Iris pale greenish golden, minutely dotted with black; pupil elliptical, vertical; tongue whitish. Scuta 202 to 235, Scutella 80 to 106. HABIT.-Pinang, Malayan Peninsula. Celebes, Java, Tenasserim, Bengal. On the hills of Pinang this species appears to be more numerous than the former. The largest individual measured: The central hexagonal scales are elongated, narrow on the anterior part of the trunk, which is covered by 19 longitudinal series of smooth, lanceolate, imbricate scales; from thence commence 17 series of broader scales. DIPSAS CYNODON, Cuvier. SYN.-Dipsas cynodon, apud Boie, Guerin, Schlegel. Young. Ground-colour yellowish brown, head with a dark blackedged arrow-shaped mark, and a black oblique streak from the eye to the nape of the neck; labials pearl-coloured, edged with black; back with numerous black transversal marks, shaped like two letters Y placed horizontally towards each other or in quincunx, becoming indistinct towards the tail. Beneath pearl-coloured with a black spot near the lateral part of the scuta; scutella edged and minutely dotted with brown. Scuta 225, Scutella 92. Adult. Head and back uniformly greyish brown tinged with lilac, with a number of distant large, transversal, purple, bands (the scales edged with black), lozenge-shaped with triangular lateral appendages, becoming indistinct towards the tail, which is alternately brownish buff and purple with black-edged scales. Beneath pale yellow, scutella minutely dotted and edged with brown. Iris pale golden, minutely dotted with purple ; pupil elliptical vertical; tongue whitish. Scuta 275, Scutella 158. HABIT.-Pinang, Malayan Peninsula. Java, Tenasserim. A young one was captured on the Great Hill of Pinang by W. T. Lewis, Esq. An adult, killed in Province Wellesley, was of the following dimensions. Circumference of the neck, 19, of the trunk, 24 inch. The young had 21, the adult 23 longitudinal series of smooth, lanceolate, imbricate scales. The long maxillary and palatal teeth are disproportionally less developed in the young than in the adult. DIPSAS BOA, (H. Boie.) (See Plate, Fig 3.) SYN.-Amblycephalus boa, II. Boie: Isis. Dipsas boa, apud Schlegel. Ground colour above: rose-coloured washed with brown, varying in intensity and shade from light bay to umber, prevailing so as to make the ground colour appear as minute spots, and with numerous irregular black spots, confluent on the head; cheeks and lips carnation, with a vertical black streak from the middle of the orbit. Beneath carnation, dotted with umber, sometimes assuming the shape of large irregular spots. Iris: silvery rose-coloured, lower half dotted with black, pupil elliptical, vertically contracted by the light; tongue whitish. Scuta abdominalia 164, Scuta subcaudalia 112; or 170+109. HABIT. Pinang. Java. The head is depressed, elongated, conical, with the muzzle truncated; the rostral shield is very large, vertically placed; the cheeks compressed, but the lips very tumid below the eyes. Of the nine crown shields the occipitals are distinguished by their reduced size, and frequent sub-division in 2 linear inter-occipitals, bordered by two large polygonal post-occipitals, enclosing a smaller third, linear. Behind the latter appears on each side a small hard tubercle, covered like the rest of the hind head with minute polygonal scales. Each temple is protected by 5 to 6 large shields, and as many smaller resting upon the labials. The nasal is large, pyramidal with the rounded nostril in the centre, and the apex wedged in between the 3 frenals, placed obliquely or vertically one above the other. The eye is large, prominent, encircled by the supra-orbital and 7 smaller shields, so that none of the upper labials reach the orbit. The lips are arched, and outwardly appear to reach to the hind head, but the commissure, or the angle of the mouth is situated immediately below the eye, which greatly reduces the opening of the mouth. Of the 9 pairs of upper labials the anterior 6 are narrow, but very deep and bulging; the posterior 3 are broader, elongated; the inferior labials, 11 pairs, are as well as the rostral, greatly reduced by the 3 pairs of very large mentals. The front view of the head grotesquely resembles that of a mastiff. All the teeth are strong, but the front tooth on each side of the lower jaw is longer than the rest; the palatal rows are very close together, and converging. The trunk is much compressed, covered by 13 longitudinal series of scales, of which the dorsal row is composed of very large hexagonal ones, each with a strong keel; the rest are smooth, rhombic, imbricate. The abdomen is very narrow, and the sides of the scuta are bent upwards. The tail is elongated, slender, tapering, and much less compressed than the trunk. Of two individuals from the hills of Pinang, the larger, a male, was of the following dimensions: Circumference of the neck 1 inch, of the trunk 15, of the root of the tail inch. In a female were observed 4 cylindrical, whitish eggs, each inch in length. The stomach contained a few remains of insects. This species is closely allied to Dipsas carinata, Schlegel, (Amblycephalus, Kuhl; Pareas, Wagler,) in which also the dorsal series of scales are keeled. M. Schlegel's short description and figure (Pl. XI, 29, 30) appear to have been taken from an immature specimen. The preceding four species are very fierce, their mode of attack is that of Lycodon aulicus. Kuhl has observed vibrating movements in the tail of Dipsas multimaculata, which however are also exhibited by Dipsas trigonata (Schneider), (Col. catenularies, Daudin,)-D. cynodon, Cuvier, and among the venomous serpents, by Vipera russelli, (Shaw) and several Asiatic species of Trigonocephalus, when they are irritated and preparing to bite. GEN. HERPETODRYAS, H. Boie. Head trigonal, very long, depressed, smooth, rather sharp; trunk. and tail very elongated; scales, particularly those of the tail, large; those of the back partially carinate; in other respects resembling Coluber. HERPETODRYAS OXYCEPHALUS, (Reinwardt.) SYN.-Coluber oxycephalus, Reinwardt. Gonyosoma viride, Wagler. Herpetodryas oxycephalus, apud Schlegel. Head above shining dark-green with a blackish straight line from the nostrils to the angle of the mouth; lips and throat pale yellowish green; trunk sea-green changing to light yellowish green on the lower part of the sides, all the scales with black edges; the anterior half of the tail, separated from the trunk by a transversal orange band, ochre, gradually changing to greyish brown on the posterior half, all the scales edged with black. Abdominal scuta light yellowish green with pale yellow edges; subcaudal scutella grey with black margins. Eyes moderate, little prominent; iris pale sea-green with a narrow pale yellow inner ring and a transversal black band; pupil circular, black. Tongue ultramarine, divided in the middle by a black longitudinal line. The exposed part of the larynx black. Scuta 268, Scutella 149. HABIT.-Pinang. Java, Celebes. The shields of the head are elongated, most so the linear frenal. The teeth are numerous; in each row the anterior six or eight are |