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Show 1°9!•] TRANSCASPIAN REPTILES. 631 O P H I O M O R O U S B R E V I P E S , Blanf. This species, the type of Blanford's genus Zygnopsis or Zygnidopsis, was established upon a single specimen, with the head slightly injured, obtained at Saadatabad, a village about 100 miles south-west of Karman, on the road to Shiraz ; this specimen, figured in the 'Zoology of Eastern Persia,' pi. vii. fig. 4, is preserved in the Calcutta Museum. In 1879, two specimens from the Southern Coast of Persia or Baluchistan were referred by Blanford to the same species l. A few years later, when preparing the Catalogue of Lizards, I came to the conclusion that the latter specimens belong to a species distinct from O. brevipes, for which I proposed the name of 0. blunfordii, and this view is now fully confirmed on the rediscovery, at Puli Hatun, of the true O. brevipes. 10 specimens were sent by M . Eylandt. They differ at first sight from O. blanfordii in the less depressed, more conical snout, and the somewhat larger eye; they further differ in having 22 scales round the body instead of 20, and the interparietal as broad as long instead of longer than broad. Nostril nearer the rostral than to the anterior loreal; frontonasal two fifths to one half the length of the frontal, which is a little longer than broad; usually, only the first supraocular forms a suture with the prefrontal, but sometimes the second also, as in O. blanfordii; interparietal as long as broad or a little broader; a pair of enlarged nuchals may be present; fifth upper labial largest; two azygous postmentals. Length of hind limb 3f to 4 | times in the distance between tbe shoulder and the thigh. Coloration as described and figured by Blanford. The largest specimen measures 95 millim. from snout to vent. ERYX JACULUS, L. All the specimens I have examined fall into Boettger's var. miliaris, Pall., and I record the following numbers from four specimens in the British Museum. Under a is given the number of scales from eye to eye, b from eye to nasal, c round the eye, d upper labials, e across middle of body, /ventrals, g subcaudals. a. 1. Ashabad (Badde) 7 2. „ (Eylandt) 7 3. „ (Warsaw Mus.) 8 4. Puli Hatun (Eylandt) . 9 I find the following numbers in three specimens from E. Turkestan :- f8 4 11 11 45 183 21 Disk (Lansdell) { 9 4 12-11 11-10 43 185 20 [9 3-4 10 10-11 45 172 20 LYCODON STRIATUS, Shaw. A perfectly typical example, with 177 ventrals and 66 subcaudals, from Puli Hatun, extends to Transcaspia the range of this common b. 4 4 5 4 c. 13 12-13 13-14 13 d. 13 12 14 12 e. 45 45 49 47 /. 185 179 180 188 ff- 23 24 27 21 1 Both are now in the British Museum, thanks to Mr. Blanford's generosity. |
