The scales of the temples and posterior parts of head ovate and carinated,
of the upper and anterior parts, subcircular and carinated, and of the sides
of the head before the eye, small and without keels. The scales of the body
and tail ovate and all strongly carinated, except the row of each side of the
body which adjoins the abdominal plates. On the body the scales are
disposed in oblique transverse rows, twenty-five in each. The abdomen is
rather flat and of moderate width, the subcaudal scales six-sided, and are
replaced near to its tip by scales like to those on its upper surface; the scales
between ram i of lower jaw in front of abdominal plates small, somewhat
five-sided and imbricate. Abdominal plates of individual figured, 125;
subcaudal scales 25. Length from nose to tail 12 inches; length of the tail
lj inches.
VIPERA LOPHOPHRYS.—Cuv.
P l a t e XXXIII.
C o l o u r ;— Rusty yellowish brown, variegated with four longitudinal rows of
irregular, lengthened, blackish brown spots or stripes. The spots of the two
middle rows are towards the posterior parts small and irregular and on the latter
are in some places confluent, so as to form short waved transverse bars; the
spots of the lateral rows towards the head are small, and on the tail, instead
of being distinct, each row fades into a sort of irregular serrated or zig-zag
dark line. Belly pale yellowish brown freckled with small somewhat quadrangular
liver-brown spots. The sides of the head are faintly marked with
two brownish red bars, one running obliquely from the outer canthus of the
eye to the angle of the mouth, the other vertically from the inner canthus to
the edge of the upper lip. Many of the spots of the body have their disc
chesnut-brown, and several of them are edged more or less completely with
bluish white. Besides the spots already described, several irregular sienna-
yellow blotches exist principally between the central and lateral rows of dark
spots.
F o rm , &c .:—Body lengthened, cylindrical, rather thicker at the middle than
at the back of the head, or base of the tail; the latter is short and rather blunt
at the point. The scales are strongly carinated and disposed in oblique transverse
rows, 27 in each. The spinous scales over the eyes are rather long and