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 horny sheath, placed on a fleshy process of the exact form and appearance of the spines they bear.

The scales of the under side 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.

Inhab. Western Australia. The Hon. Capt. G. Grey, and John Gould, Esq.

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 inches.

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

64. Tropidonotus Mairii, Gray.—Olive, beneath pale olive, vertebral scales darker, slightly spotted; labial shield pale, dark edged. The dorsal and lateral scales keeled, placed in longitudinal series; the keels continued, equal; chin shields two pairs, long; throat scaly on the sides, shielded in the middle; loreal shields equal; one high anterior, and three small posterior ocular shields; temples shielded; nostrils in the suture between the scales; the anterior frontal narrow, moderate; eyes large, convex, pupil round.

Inhab. New Holland, Dr. Mair, 39 Reg.

White, in the Appendix to his Journal, mentions and figures two snakes (n. 1 and 2, p. 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 shield black in front; subcaudal plates, one-rowed; throat scaly; chin shields two pairs; eyes lateral, pupil round; front pair of frontal plates short; nostrils lateral, in two small shields, loreal shields none; one large anterior, and two moderate posterior ocular shields; lower temporal shield in the labial ones. Scales quite smooth, broad. Inhab. New Holland. Dr. Mann.

69. Trimesurus leptocephalus.-Lacepède 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 Lacepède 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 shields blackish, throat scaly, chin shields two pairs. Under the epidermis bluish green; body elongate, tapering; tail moderate tapering, subcaudal shields 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 shields normal; the nostrils lateral in the suture between two shields, hinder shield elongate; loreal shields none; one large anterior and two moderate post-ocular shields; labial shields subequal, lower temporal inserted.

Inhab. New Holland. Dr. Maw.

71. Calamaria diadema, t. 5, f. 3.-Body cylindrical, scales small; ventral shields brown, rounded; tail rather short, tapering; subcaudal plates two, round. Head small, indistinct, moderately long; head shields normal, first frontal small; nostril lunate, in the middle of a triangular nasal shield; no loreal; one rather large upper anterior, two posterior ocular shields, lowest largest ; temples shielded; labial shield 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 Journ. Append. 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 shield, lateral, erect; loreal shields none; one anterior oblique, and two small post-ocular shields.

Inhab. 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 shields, no loreal shields; nostrils lateral, in the suture between the two nasal shields; 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 shields; six upper and lower labial shields, 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.

Inhab. 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 shields normal; hinder frontal and front of superciliary shield expanded on the sides, and bent down on the cheeks. Nostrils