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Show 1881.] MR. W. T. BLANFORD ON PERSIAN REPTILES. 679 fourth and fifth supralabials entering the orbit instead of the fifth only, in the shape of the vertical, which is pentagonal with straight instead of convex sides, in the greater number of ventral shields, and in the tail being one eighth only of the total length instead of about 1 : 6*5. As, however, the two forms have precisely the same coloration and are alike in other characters, it is not clear how far the peculiarities of the Persian form may be due to merely individual variation. The genus Catachla?na may be thus defined:-- Head scarcely broader than the neck ; body rounded ; ventrals angulate; tail short, conical; pupil slightly elliptical, vertically elongate. Teeth in the upper jaw few in number, the last larger than the others and situated at a distance behind them. a Fig. 2. b Head of Catachlcena diadema, var. Rostral peculiarly shaped, being sharply folded back upon the upper surface t>f the head, where it extends for a distance equal to the length of the postfrontals, and turned back at a still sharper angle laterally, so as to form part of the side of the head in front of the nasals. Nostril extremely small and subvalvular, between two shields. I find this is not the first time that this Snake has been recorded from Persia; for Dumeril and Bibron state that a specimen was brought thence by Aucher-Eloy 1. Bbttger records the same species from Jaffa, in Palestine. The specimen from Southern Persia measures 18 inches, of which the tail is 2\, and has 188 ventral shields and 36 pairs of subcaudals. ZAMENIS DIADEMA. Specimen without precise locality. ZAMENIS CLIFFORDI. Dehbid. The specimen of Z. diadema is probably from Southern Persia, and agrees with most South-Persian specimens in having three small shields between the postfrontals and vertical. The ventrals are distinctly angulate. In the Snake from Dehbid, north of Shiraz, the 1 The specimen is not now in the museum of the Jardin des Plantes. I made inquiries for it, as I wished to see whether it presented the same peculiarities as the other Persian individual above described. |
