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Show 88 CAPT. F. WALL ON THE [Feb. 3, 23. T r ir h in o ph o l is s t y a n i (Blgr.), P. Z. 8. Lond. 1899, p. 164, pi. xviii. figs. 2 & 2 a. China. 24. A ch a l in u s rufe scens . Hongkong. - I obtained four specimens in Hongkong Island, found in the low vegetation on the slopes of the Peak. In one specimen both anterior temporals touch the eye on both sides. Scales somewhat irregular, 23-25 in mid-body. Ventrals and subcaudals 150-f 56, 158 + 58, 158 + 61, 154 + 58. Colour uniform olive-brown above, slightly darker vertebral]y, and with iridescence in reflected light. Head same colour above, merging to chestnut on temporal regions. 25. A chalinus bracconieri. S. China.- I think that this species will have to be united with A . spinalis; the differences between the two shown by Mr. Boulenger1 are considerable but not constant, being shared by individuals of both supposed species. For instance, in all the four specimens of A. spinalis that I have examined (one of w^hich I presented to the British Museum, which has been seen and identified as such by Mr. Boulenger) the scales are 23, and not 21. The relative length of the sutures between the internasal and praefrontal has, in my opinion, little or no weight. The specimen of A. spinalis I sent to the British Museum has the internasal suture about two-thirds the length of the praefrontal; and in more than one specimen of bracconieri in the British Museum a similar condition exists. The specimen figured by Stejneger2 from Japan which he calls spinalis is more like Mr. Boulenger's bracconieri, but has 23 scales. 26. A chalinus spinalis. China, Japan.-I saw three specimens in Mr. Owston's collection from Mount Fuji, Japan, and one I found in the Siccawei Collection. In all there is a large shield on the postero-lateral region of the parietals similar to those described under A . bracconieri, and, like them, separated by one scale in the median line. Yentrals and subcaudals 154 + 58, 165 + 44, 165 + 48, 170 + 44. 27. L ycodon aul icus. Southern Asia, from India to Malay Archipelago, Philippines, Formosa (City Hall Mus.), Hongkong ? (Boettger 3), S. China? viz. from Amoy (Steindachner 4). 28. L ycodon fasciatus. W. Yunnan (Anderson), Assam, Burma. 29. L ycodon subcinctus. Malay Peninsula and Archipelngo, Sumatra, Borneo, Java, Timor, Hongkong, Philippines.- There are two specimens in the City Hall Museum from Hongkong and one from Timor. I also examined a fourth, which Mr. Armstrong 1 Cat. Snakes Brit. Mus. vol. i. pp. 308 & 309. 2 Ann. Zool. Japon. ii. p. 29. 3 The specimen alluded to by Boettger (Mat. herp. Faun, von China, 1888, p. 84) in the City Hall Museum is no longer in the collection; the only specimen of this gpecies in that Institution is from Formosa. 4 Kcise der Novara, Kept., Wien, 18G9, p. 74. |
