Bandy Bandy, Vermicella annulata

Plate 52. The Black and White Ringed Snake, Vermicella annulata (now known as the Bandy Bandy, Vermicella annulata) found in Sandhurst

This is one of the rarer Snakes of Victoria, and does not occur much further south than Sandhurst.

It is impossible to confound it with any other land Snake from its striking colours arranged in numerous, nearly regular, alternate black and white bands. These colours are nearly pure when the skin has been newly changed, but the white gets a slight yellow tinge, and the black a brown coat, when the skin is old; the pattern varies a little on the head, and the figured specimen differs from all the others in having the black bands wide and including a white patch, below.

The curious peculiar character of having no teeth behind the fang in the upper jaw is quite clear in all the specimens examined.

View plate and full description in the Biodiversity Heritage Library