Vl P ERA - ATRO'P0 IDES
VIPERA (ECHIDNA) ATROPOIDES.—Smith.
R e p t il ia .— P late LIII.
V. capite, dorso, lateribusque purpureo-griseis; capite strigis duabus / longitudinalibus variatis; dorso
maculis nigro-brunneis in seriebus duabus notatis; lateribus, maculis, lineis nigro-brunneis maculisque
albis variegatis; abdomine nigro-viridi, flavo-sparso; capite depresso subovato; naribus prope oculos.
C o lo u r . The upper surface of the head, the back, and the sides intermediate
between brownish purple-red and lilac-purple, the first variegated
with two longitudinal stripes of light umber-brown, the back with two rows
of spots of the same colour, some semicircular, others somewhat quadrangular,
each spot edged inferiorly with a broad whitish blotch ; sides mottled
with irregular pale liver-brown blotches, a more or less zig-zag liver-brown
line and many irregular whitish spots. Sides of the head the same colour as
the back, variegated with two oblique stripes proceeding from the hinder
edge of the eye to the angle of the mouth, the hindermost liver-brown, the
other which adjoins it nearly pure white. Under surface of head straw-
yellow ; the abdomen and under surface of the tail light blackish green,
freckled with yellow.
F orm, &c.—-Figure rather robust; body very thick at the middle, slightly
tapered towards the head and the tail; the latter is'short, very slender, and
pointed. Head depressed, broad, subovate, and behind considerably wider
than the neck ; temples convex, as are also the upper lips and sides of the
head under the eyes; the latter are prominent, of moderate' size, situated
rather near to each other, and the eyebrows over them slightly projected above
the level of the upper surface of the head. Nostrils small, circular, nearer
to the eyes than the tip of the nose, and without a distinct ring around the
opening, the latter is directed outwards and slightly backwards. Scales of
the upper surface of the head towards the nose subcircular, elsewhere ovate,
and in both situations carinated; scales of the back and sides ovate, those
towards the abdominal plates largest, on the back and upper two-thirds of
sides strongly carinated, on the lower third slightly. Plates of abdomen