Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia Volume II Part 51

Inhabits Western Australia. Mr. J. Gould.

The underside is coloured somewhat like G. maculatus (G. gaimardii, Dumeril and Bibron) but the sides of the head near the ears are spinose, and the nape is distinctly crested.

But as Dumeril and Bibron's species is only described from a single specimen which is in a bad state, and has lost its epidermis, and as the description itself, though long, refers chiefly to parts which do not differ in the species of the genus, this species may prove not to be different from it.

These authors, in giving the character of Grammatophora gaimardii and G.

decresii, appears to place great reliance on the one having tubular and the other non-tubular femoral pores, which is a fact entirely dependent on the state in which the animal might be at the time when it was put into the spirits, as I have verified by comparing numerous specimens of different reptiles furnished with these pores.

But in this genus the size of the pores is apparently of less importance than in many others, for they appear to be quite invisible in some states of the animal: thus out of many specimens of G. muricata brought by Mr.

Gould from Van Diemen's Land and Western Australia, eight specimens have no visible pores; these specimens differ from the others in being of a rather paler colour beneath. This state of the pores may entirely depend on the manner in which they were preserved, for all these specimens had a slit made into their abdomen to admit the spirits; while in all the specimens in which this care had not been taken the pores are distinctly seen, sometimes moderately sized, and at others tubularly produced.

60. MOLOCH, Gray.

Body depressed, covered with irregular, unequal, small, granular plates, each furnished with a more or less prominent central spine, and with a series of large, conical, convex, acute spines; head and limbs covered with similar scales and spines; head small, with very large spines over each of the eyebrows; tail with irregular rings of large acute spines; femoral and suba.n.a.l pores none; teeth small, subequal; toes 5.5, short, covered above and below with keeled scales; claws long, acute.

The external appearance of this Lizard is the most ferocious of any that I know, the horns of the head and the numerous spines on the body giving it a most formidable aspect. The scales of the back are small and unequal; they gradually increase in size as they approach the base of the conical spines, which is surrounded with a ring of larger scales with longer spines; the large spines are conical; rather compressed, spinulose below, smooth and acute at the tip, and are usually furnished with a sharp-toothed ridge on the front edge, and sometimes on both. These spines only consist of a h.o.r.n.y sheath, placed on a fleshy process of the exact form and appearance of the spines they bear.

The scales of the underside of the body are of the same form as those of the back, and are furnished with similar but smaller and less produced spines. The back of the neck of the two specimens I have seen is furnished with a large rounded protuberance like a cherry, covered with large granular spinous scales, and armed on each side with a large conical spine; but I do not know if this is common to the species or merely accidental in these individuals; at any rate it adds considerably to the singularity of their appearance.

I have named this genus, from its appearance, after "Moloch, horrid king."

60. Moloch horridus, t. 2.

Pale yellow, marked with dark regular spots; sides and beneath with black-edged dark red similar spots.

Inhabits Western Australia. The Honourable Captain G. Grey, and John Gould, Esquire.

The marks on the body are very definite, but from the irregularity of their form they are not easily described.

The lips are dark brown, with two streaks up to the small spines on the forehead; there is a dark cross-band from the base of the two large horns over the eyebrows, running behind, and then dividing into broad streaks, one along each side of the centre of the back of the neck to between the shoulders, crossing the nuchal swelling. In the middle of the back there is a very large black patch nearly extending from side to side, and over the loins are two oblong longitudinal black spots; the dark lines commencing from the lower angle of each eye extend along the upper part of each side to the upper part of the groin; the front of the fore- and hind-legs, and the sides are marked with similar dark bands.

A dark band commences from the hinder part of the lower lip, merging in the throat, and expanding out so as to be united together at the back part of the chin. There is a large rather oblong spot in the centre of the chest and the hinder part of the abdomen, separated from each other by a large somewhat triangular spot on each side of the middle of the abdomen.

Body 4 1/2 inches.

This is the Spinous Lizard exhibited by Mr. Gould at the meeting of the Zoological Society in October 1840.

64. Tropidonotus mairii, Gray.

Olive, beneath pale olive, vertebral scales darker, slightly spotted; l.a.b.i.al s.h.i.+eld pale, dark edged. The dorsal and lateral scales keeled, placed in longitudinal series; the keels continued, equal; chin s.h.i.+elds two pairs, long; throat scaly on the sides, s.h.i.+elded in the middle; loreal s.h.i.+elds equal; one high anterior, and three small posterior ocular s.h.i.+elds; temples s.h.i.+elded; nostrils in the suture between the scales; the anterior frontal narrow, moderate; eyes large, convex, pupil round.

Inhabits New Holland, Dr. Mair, 39th Regiment.

White, in the Appendix to his Journal, mentions and figures two snakes (n. 1 and 2 page 258) but his descriptions are so short, and his figures so indistinct, compared with what are now required to determine the species of snakes, that I am unable to apply them with certainty to any of the species here recorded.

68. Naja bungaroides, var.

Brown. Varied with a few whitish cross bands; last series of scales and beneath whitish ventral s.h.i.+eld black in front; subcaudal plates, one-rowed; throat scaly; chin s.h.i.+elds two pairs; eyes lateral, pupil round; front pair of frontal plates short; nostrils lateral, in two small s.h.i.+elds, loreal s.h.i.+elds none; one large anterior, and two moderate posterior ocular s.h.i.+elds; lower temporal s.h.i.+eld in the l.a.b.i.al ones.

Scales quite smooth, broad.

Inhabits New Holland. Dr. Mair.

69. Trimesurus leptocephalus.

Lacepede described this species twice, once as a Boa, and then as a Trimesurus. Mr. Schlegel observes that there is one of Baudin's original specimens in the Leyden collection, and that the scales are not in the least keeled, though Lacepede described them to be so. Lesson believing it to be an undescribed species formed for it his genus Acanthophis; Wagler has also formed two genera for this single species; and Cuvier formed from a variety of it with subcaudal bands a third genus, under the name of Oplocephalus.

70. Trimesurus olivaceus, Gray.

Olive-green, scales black; head dark with a black streak along each side, enclosing the eyes and united by a black band across the nape; lips, and beneath white; lips and chin black dotted, front of ventral s.h.i.+elds blackish, throat scaly, chin s.h.i.+elds two pairs. Under the epidermis bluish green; body elongate, tapering; tail moderate tapering, subeaudal s.h.i.+elds one-rowed, longer towards the tip; scales all smooth, imbricated, subequal, rather larger below; head small, rather tapering in front, rounded; eyes rather small, pupil round, head s.h.i.+elds normal; the nostrils lateral in the suture between two s.h.i.+elds, hinder s.h.i.+eld elongate; loreal s.h.i.+elds none; one large anterior and two moderate post-ocular s.h.i.+elds; l.a.b.i.al s.h.i.+elds subequal, lower temporal inserted.

Inhabits New Holland. Dr. Mair.

71. Calamaria diadema, t. 5 f. 3.

Body cylindrical, scales small; ventral s.h.i.+elds brown, rounded; tail rather short, tapering; subcaudal plates two, round. Head small, indistinct, moderately long; head s.h.i.+elds normal, first frontal small; nostril lunate, in the middle of a triangular nasal s.h.i.+eld; no loreal; one rather large upper anterior, two posterior ocular s.h.i.+elds, lowest largest; temples s.h.i.+elded; l.a.b.i.al s.h.i.+eld moderate. White dorsal scales with a distinct brown edge; head and nape black, with a broad white occipital band; beneath white.

New Holland. Dr. Mair.

72. Calamaria annulata, Gray. Snake, n. 2. White's Journal Appendix 259 f. 2.

White (in spirits) with twenty-eight black rings (twenty-five on the body and three on the tail;) head with two black bands, one on the end of the nose and the other with the eyes in front of it. Tip of the tail black; eyes small, pupil round; nostrils in the centre of a s.h.i.+eld, lateral, erect; loreal s.h.i.+elds none; one anterior oblique, and two small post-ocular s.h.i.+elds.

Inhabits New Holland. Dr. Lewis.

74. Tortrix australis.

Pale olive, scales black-edged, on the sides widest; beneath bluish, with a white edged black band across the end of the muzzle; a white band before the front and back of the eyes, and a triangular black spot at the lower hinder angle of the eyes; pupil round; one large and two posterior ocular s.h.i.+elds, no loreal s.h.i.+elds; nostrils lateral, in the suture between the two nasal s.h.i.+elds; scales smooth imbricate, those of the sides larger, of the tail six-sided.

77. Elaps gouldii, Gray, t. 5 f. 1.

Pale yellowish; the scales of the back small, 6-sided, with a dark anterior margin, giving the back a netted appearance. Top of the head and nape black, with a yellow spot on the rostral scale on each side just before the eyes. Head small, the occipital plates large elongate; the nasal plate triangular; one moderate anterior, and two subequal posterior ocular s.h.i.+elds; six upper and lower l.a.b.i.al s.h.i.+elds, the fourth under the eyes; eyes small, pupil round. There is an indistinct small yellow spot behind the upper part of the eye; but this may be an accidental variety, as the spots on the two sides are not equally defined.

Inhabits Western Australia.

This species resembles Calamaria diadema, which is also found in Western Australia, but it is larger, and the head is larger in comparison with the body, and in this species it is the base of scales, while in the later it is the outer margin, that is dark.

78. Elaps lewisii, Gray.

Olive green, submetallic; edge of the scales blackish; upper lip, chin, and ventral plates greenish-white; head moderate, elongate, depressed; head s.h.i.+elds normal; hinder frontal and front of superciliary s.h.i.+eld expanded on the sides, and bent down on the cheeks. Nostrils in the suture between the two small nasal plates. Loreal plates small oblong; one small front and two smaller posterior oculars. Temples s.h.i.+elded; l.a.b.i.al plates moderate; chin s.h.i.+elds two pair; middle of the throat s.h.i.+elded, sides scaly. Eyes large, pupil rounded; body elongate, sub-cylindrical, moderately thick, covered with cross bands of elongated narrow scales. The vertebral series broad, six-sided, long; of the nape, small, like those on the sides; of the tail, broader and more uniform; ventral plates distinctly keeled and erect on the sides. Tail elongate, tapering, with two rows of s.h.i.+elds, keeled on the sides.

80. Hydrus.

Captain G. Grey informs me that these snakes coil themselves upon the sh.o.r.e, living on the seaweed, and that they lay their eggs on the sh.o.r.e.

They are often found asleep upon the sea, when they are easily caught, as they cannot sink without first throwing themselves on the back, probably to empty their large vesicular lungs.

83. Platemys macquaria.

This species was originally indicated by Cuvier, from a single specimen brought from the Macquarie River by Messieurs Lesson and Garnot. It has been doubted if it really is an inhabitant of that country, and might not have been imported from South America, whence all the other species of the genus come, and sold to the French collectors for a native species.