two; temporal plates two or three, long, narrow, and quadrangular; plates
of upper lip, exclusive of rostral, eight, of lower lip, exclusive of mental, the
same number; submental plates two pairs, the first pair long and narrow,
the last pair short and posteriorly broad and truncated. Nostrils situated
toward the anterior third of the nasal plate, broad and semicircular superiorly,
narrow and pointed inferiorly. Eyes small and convex, pupil oval and vertical.
Teeth few, small, conical, and exist only towards the angle of the
mouth; the gular teeth, formed by the elongated inferior spinous processes
of the hinder cervical vertebrae, seven in number (Jig- d.), they are inclined
forwards, and each projects about half a line into the oesophageal canal
through a small hole in its tunics (Jig- £.), the point of each is armed with
enamel. In the specimen described (two feet five inches in length), these teeth
commence exactly 2^ inches behind the apex of the lower jaw. Scales of the
body and tail imbricate ; those of the former, narrow, ovate, strongly carinated,
and disposed in regular oblique rows ; those of the tail, broader and shorter,
carinated strongly like those of the body, but not arranged in such regular
rows ; the scales of the row next to the abdominal plates are shorter and much
broader than the other scales of the body, but, like them, strongly carinated.
The scales at the middle of the body are arranged in 24 longitudinal rows.
Abdominal plates, 218; subcaudal scales, 92 pairs. Length from nose to
anus, 2 feet; from anus to tail, 5 inches.
This snake occurs in the south-eastern districts of the Cape Colony, and also in Kaffirland,
and is frequently found concealed under the loose hark of dead trees. Collectors should
always remove the hark of trees under such circumstances, as they will often find inside of
it, not only reptiles, hut also other objects of great interest. Three species of this group have
come under my observation; two of them, this and Dasypeltis scaber, ( Coluber scaber, Lin.)
are inhabitants of Southern Africa; the other, Dasypeltis faciatus* is found in Sierra Leone.
The first of the three (Z>. scaber) which came under my notice feeds on eggs, and as
the other two have a like organization, I presume they exist on similar food. In 1829,
• Head small and quadrangular; hind-head not broader than the neck. Body nearly of equal
thickness,, and slightly compressed. Scales oval and strongly carinate. Teeth minute and thinly
set; gular teeth short, and about two inches behind the apex of the lower jaw. Colour of head
and anterior parts of body above dirty orange-coloured brown faintly clouded with dirty white, of
posterior parts chestnut-brown barred narrowly with pale buff-orange. Abdominal plates 234; sub-
caudal scales 71 pairs; rows of scales at middle of body 20, Length from nose to anus 18 inches; from
anus to point of tail 4 inches.
DASYPELTIS INORNATUS.
when I first obtained a specimen of the species last mentioned, I considered it a type
of a new form, and described it under the name of Anodon typvs ;* but afterwards, on discovering
that Anodon had been employed by conchologists, I adopted Dasypeltis, as proposed
by W agler.f The paucity and smallness of the teeth in the mouth are favourable to the
passage of the egg, and permit it to progress without injury, whereas were they otherwise,
many eggs, which have very thin shells, would be broken before they entered the gullet, and
the animal in consequence would be deprived of its natural food when within its reach. Having
observed that living specimens which I kept in confinement always retained the egg
stationary about two inches behind the head, and while in that position used great efforts
to crush it, I killed one, and found the gular teeth about the place where the egg ceases to
descend. Those teeth, I am satisfied from many observations, assist in fixing the egg, and
also in breaking the shell when the former reaches them, and is subjected to compression
by the muscular action of the parts surrounding it. The instant the egg is broken, by the
exertions of the animal, the shell is ejected from the mouth, and the fluid contents is
conveyed onwards to the stomach. Many serpents, perhaps all, devour eggs when they have
the opportunity, but this and the other species of the genus is pre-eminent in that respect.
* Zoological Journal of London, Vol. iv. page 443* 1839.
+ Natürliches System der Amphibien, page 178. 1838.