D E NDROPHIS SEMI VAR IE & AT A.
(Reptflia_ Plate 59 )
DENDROPHIS (PHILOTHAMNUS*) SEMIYARIEGATA.—S m it h .
R e p t il ia . P late LIX. A d u l t .
D. superne subolivacea, antice fasciolis nigris, undatis, variegatis; inferne subflava viridi-tincta j corporis
squamis in lineis obliquis plus minus imbricatis dispositis.
C olou r .—The upper and lateral parts of the head and the first third of the
back and sides intermediate between bluish green and grass-green, the
remainder of the back and sides, and the upper and lateral parts of the tail
intermediate between oil-green and wax-yellow, the first third of the back
thinly variegated with narrow, waved, ill-defined, liver-brown bars. The
edges of the lower jaw, and the under surface of the head and body dull
yellow, with a bluish green tint shining through it, the under surface of the
tail with a predominance of the latter colour. Eyes deep reddish brown,
the pupils edged with a narrow ring of a silvery colour.
F orm, &c.—Figure rather slender, body slightly thickest at its middle ; tail
long, tapered, and pointed; head rather elongated and subovate, its sides perpendicular
and the nose moderately wide and slightly arched; the temples
rather prominent, and the hind-head considerably wider than the neck;
frontal plate broad at the base, and much contracted towards the point, the
latter triangular, and inserted between the occipital plates; nasal plate
square, its hinder edge crescentic, the concavity forwards; naso-frenal larger
than the nasal, and forms the hinder boundary of the nostril; frenal plate
narrow, its hinder edge oblique, the slope from above downwards and backwards.
Pre-ocular plate with the anterior edge inferiorly sloped backwards to
conform to the frenal plate ; post ocular plates, two, small and quadrangular;
plates of temples, large, and in two rows Plates of upper lip, nine, exclusive
of rostral, the first five quadrangular, and much the smallest; the sixth has an
elbow extending upwards behind the eye. Plates of the lower lip, not including
the mental plate, eleven, they increase in size to the sixth, which is much
the largest, and from that decrease to the angle of the mouth. The scales of
* Ch. Subgen. Form slender. Hind-head broader than the neck. Teeth of maxilla small, the last
rather largest, not grooved. Nostrils formed by nasal and naso-frenal plates. Frenal plate single.
Pupil circular. Scales of body arranged in oblique rows, the hinder edge of each row overlapping more
or less of the row behind it. Abdominal plates angular, or keeled towards each extremity.