Transactions and proceedings and report of the Philosophical Society of Adelaide, South Australia . he ventrals number321 to 338, and the sub-caudals 60 to 69, whereas in these plates number 287 to 308 and 51 to 53respectively. Female snakes frequently have shorter tailsthan males, but the figures given above bear no relation tosex, as the examples of A. ramsayi, from which the numberswere obtained, are of both sexes. The wholly black or brownhead and neck may be characteristic of A. melanocephalus,but it may be noted that of the specimens of A. ramsayi nowunder review, two young exa
Transactions and proceedings and report of the Philosophical Society of Adelaide, South Australia . he ventrals number321 to 338, and the sub-caudals 60 to 69, whereas in these plates number 287 to 308 and 51 to 53respectively. Female snakes frequently have shorter tailsthan males, but the figures given above bear no relation tosex, as the examples of A. ramsayi, from which the numberswere obtained, are of both sexes. The wholly black or brownhead and neck may be characteristic of A. melanocephalus,but it may be noted that of the specimens of A. ramsayi nowunder review, two young examples exhibit some black mark-ings ; thus in one, the snout, chin, and some of the head plates 438 are black, and in another, dark markings are found on theneck. Replying to my inquiry as to the condition in is, Mr. Longman informs me that he now suggests thatthe strikingly white colouration of the specimen may beexplained as a case of partial albinism. Melanistic birds arebut rarely met with, whereas albinos, on the contrary, arewithin the experience of everyone. The reverse condition. 6 7 appears to obtain in regard to snakes, for Boulenger writes: —Melanism is frequent in snakes . . partial albinismis rare; perfect albinism, chiaraciterized by absence of blackpigment in the eye, rarer still/(5) Other characters I had relied upon to distinguish thespecies of Aspidites were the condition and number of thehead shields, particular importance being attached to thenumber of the labial entering the orbit, the sixth beingindicative of .4. melanocephalus and the seventh of Of the five specimens of the latter species nowunder notice, one conforms to» the statement, in two the sixth (4) Boulenger : Snakes of Europe, 1913, p. 39. (5) For discussion on albinos and white varieties see Waiteand others, Zoologist, (3), xv., 1892, and xvi., 1893. 439 labial enters the orbit, in one the sixth and seventh on bothsides do so (fig. 4), while in the remaining two examplesth
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