A new Amblycephalus from Sumatra

Amblycephalus tropidonotus nov. spec. Rostral slightly broader than long scarcely visible from above; internasals much shorter than the praefrontals, latter entering the eye; frontal hexagonal, more long than broad, nearly twice as long as its distance from the tip of the snout, a little shorter than the parietals; supraocular nearly half as broad as the frontal; loreal much longer than deep, entering the eye; no praeocular; 7 supralabials, 3rd and 4th entering the eye; one large praeocular; 1st and 2nd infralabial in contact with an azygos chinshield, this shield is in contact with the symphysial, much broader than long and is followed by 3 pairs of chinshields, all broader than long; temporals 2 + 2 + 2. Body compressed. Scales in 15 rows, smooth, those of the middle row larger than the adjacent scales, laterally compressed and forming a ridge along the middle of the back '). Ventrals 200—204, anal entire, subcaudals 74—78. Buff coloured, the margins of the scales of the head darker; irregular dark crossbands along the sides of the body; many of the scales of the middle row with a light median line; underparts light coloured with small dark brown spots, irregularly scattered on the sides of some of the ventrals; the subcaudals with a dark spot on each side, on the latter half of the tail these spots meet those of the other side. This species is very nearly related to Amblycephalus vertebralis Blgr., from which it differs in having only one postocular, in the arrangement of the first lower labials which do not meet behind the symphysial, the latter being in contact with an azygos chinshield, and in the somewhat larger number of the subcaudals and the ventrals.