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FAMILY 11.-DENDROPHIDÆ. (7 Genera, 35 Species.)

NEOTROPICAL NEARCTIC
SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS.

GENERAL DISTRIBUTION.

PALEARCTIC ETHIOPIAN ORIENTAL AUSTRALIAN
SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS.

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The Dendrophidæ, or Tree Snakes, are found in all the Tropical regions, but are most abundant in the Oriental. The genera are distributed as follows:

Dendrophis ranges from India and Ceylon to the Pelew Islands and North Australia, and has one species in West Africa; Ahatulla is almost equally divided between Tropical Africa and Tropical America; Gonyosoma ranges from Persia to Java and the Philippines; Chrysopelea is found in India, Borneo, the Philippines, Amboyna, and Mysol; Hapsidrophis and Bucephalus are confined to Tropical Africa; and Ithycyphus (1 sp.), is peculiar to Madagascar.

FAMILY 12.-DRYIOPHIDE. (5 Genera, 15 Species.)

GENERAL DISTRIBUTION.

ORIENTAL

AUSTRALIAN SUB-REGIONS.

NEOTROPICAL NEARCTIC PALEARCTIC ETHIOPIAN
SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS.

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The Dryiophidæ, or Whip Snakes, are a very well characterised family of slender, green-coloured, arboreal serpents, found in the three tropical regions but absent from Australia, although they just enter the Australian region in the island of Celebes. In Africa they are confined to the West Coast and Madagascar. The genera are:—

Dryiophis (4 sp.), Tropical America and West Africa: Tropidococcyx (1 sp.), Central India; Tragops (4 sp.), Bengal to China, the Philippines, Java, and Celebes; Passerita (2 sp.), Ceylon

and the Indian Peninsula; and Langaha (2 sp.), confined to Madagascar.

FAMILY 13.-DIPSADIDÆ. (11 Genera, 45 Species.)

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The Dipsadidæ, or Nocturnal Tree Snakes, are distinguished from the last family by their dark colours and nocturnal habits. They are about equally abundant in the Oriental and Neotropical regions, less so in the Ethiopian, while only a single species extends to North Australia. The following are the best known genera :

Dipsas, comprising all the Oriental species with one in AsiaMinor, and a few from the Moluccas, New Guinea, North Australia, West Africa, and Tropical America; Thamnodyastes, Tropidodipsas, and several others, from Tropical America; Dipsadoboa, from West Africa and Tropical America; Leptodeira, from Tropical and South Africa, South America, and Mexico; and Pythonodipsas, from Central Africa.

FAMILY 14.-SCYTALIDE. (3 Genera, 10 Species.)

GENERAL DISTRIBUTION.

NEOTROPICAL NEARCTIC PALEARCTIC ETHIOPIAN

ORIENTAL AUSTRALIAN SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS.

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It is doubtful how far the three

genera which constitute this family form a natural assemblage. We can therefore draw no safe conclusions from the peculiarity of their distributionScytale and Oxyrhopus being confined to Tropical America; while Hologerrhum inhabits the Philippine Islands.

FAMILY 15.-LYCODONTIDE. (11 Genera, 35 Species.)

GENERAL DISTRIBUTION.

ORIENTAL AUSTRALIAN
SUB-REGIONS.

NEOTROPICAL NEARCTIC PALEARCTIC ETHIOPIAN
SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS.

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The Lycodontidæ, or Fanged Ground Snakes, are confined to the Ethiopian and Oriental regions, over the whole of which they range, except that they are absent from Madagascar and extend eastward to New Guinea. The genera have often a limited distribution:

Lycodon ranges from India and Ceylon to China, the Philippines, and New Guinea; Tetragonosoma, the Malay Peninsula and Islands; Leptorhytaon and Ophites, India; Cercaspis, Ceylon; and Cyclocorus, the Philippines. The African genera are Bowdon, Lycophidion, Holuropholis, Simocephalus, and Lamprophis, the latter being found only in South Africa. The species are nearly equally abundant in both regions, but no genus is common to the two.

FAMILY 16.-AMBLYCEPHALIDE. (5 Genera, 12 Species.

GENERAL DISTRIBUTION.

NEARCTIC

ORIENTAL

AUSTRALIAN

NEOTROPICAL
PALEARCTIC ETHIOPIAN
SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS.

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The Amblycephalidæ, or Blunt Heads, are very singularly distributed, being nearly equally divided between Tropical America and the eastern half of the Oriental region, as will be seen by the following statement of the distribution of the genera :

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Amblycephalus (1 sp.), Malay Peninsula to Borneo and the Philippines; Pareas (3 sp.), Assam, China, Java, and Borneo;

Asthenodipsas (1 sp.), Malacca; Leptognathus (6 sp.), Central and South America; and Anoplodipsas (1 sp.), supposed to come from New Caledonia, and, if so, furnishing a link, though a very imperfect one, between the disconnected halves of the family.

FAMILY 17.—PYTHONIDÆ. (21 Genera, 46 Species.).

GENERAL DISTRIBUTION.

NEOTROPICAL NEARCTIC PALEARCTIC ETHIOPIAN ORIENTAL AUSTRALIAN SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS.

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The Pythonidæ, comprising the Rock Snakes, Pythons, and Boas, are confined to the tropics, with the exception of one species in California. They are very abundant in the Neotropical region, where nearly half the known species occur; the Australian region comes next, while the Oriental is the least prolific in these large serpents. The genera which have been described are very numerous, but they are by no means well defined. The following are the most important:

Python is confined to the Oriental region; Morelia, Liasis, and Nardoa are Australian and Papuan; Enygrus is found in the Moluccas, New Guinea and the Fiji Islands; Hortulia is African; Sanzinia is peculiar to Madagascar; Boa, Epicrates, Corallus, Ungalia, and Eunectes are Tropical American; Chilabothrus is peculiar to Jamaica and Mexico; and Lichanotus to California.

An extinct species belonging to this family has been found in the Brown-coal formation of Germany, of Miocene age.

FAMILY 18.-ERYCIDE. (3 Genera, 6 Species.)

NEOTROPICAL NEARCTIC
SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS.

GENERAL DISTRIBUTION.

PALEARCTIC ETHIOPIAN ORIENTAL AUSTRALIAN
SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS.

1 -3

The Erycidæ, or Land Snakes, form a small but natural family, chiefly found in the desert zone on the confines of the Palearctic, Oriental, and Ethiopian regions. They range from South Europe to West Africa and to Sikhim. The three genera are distributed as follows:

Cursoria (1 sp.), Afghanistan; Gongylophis (1 sp.), India and Sikhim; Eryx (4 sp.), has the range of the entire family.

FAMILY 19.-ACROCHORDIDE. (2 Genera, 3 Species)

GENERAL DISTRIBUTION.

NEOTROPICAL NEARCTIC PALEARCTIC

ETHIOPIAN

ORIENTAL

AUSTRALIAN SUB-REGIONS.

SUB-REGIONS, SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS.

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The Acrochordidæ, or Wart Snakes, form a small and isolated group, found only in two sub-divisions of the Oriental regionthe South Indian and the Malayan, and in New Guinea.

Acrochordus, inhabits Penang, Singapore, and Borneo; Chersydrus, Southern India and the Malay Peninsula, with a species recently discovered in New Guinea.

FAMILY 20.-ELAPIDE.

NEOTROPICAL

(23 Genera, 100 Species.)

GENERAL DISTRIBUTION.

NEARCTIC PALEARCTIC ETHIOPIAN ORIENTAL AUSTRALIAN SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS. SUB-REGIONS.

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The Elapidæ, or Terrestrial venomous Colubrine Snakes, are an extensive group, spread over the tropics of the whole world, but especially abundant in Australia, where half the known species occur, some of them being the most deadly of venomous serpents. In the Oriental region they are also abundant, containing amongst other forms, the well-known Cobras. The American species are almost equally numerous, but they all belong to one

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