NATURAL .SCIENCES 01' rillLADKLl'lllA. 71 



Iq a. Blbronii, the ab. and sub-caud. scuta are given bj' Dr. Smith as 255, 

 20, and 225, 21. The drawidg iu the S. African Illustrations is mHgnilied 

 and tberet'dre the fangs iu both animals are probably of equal length. The 

 gtit-trostega are quite broad, and extend very slightly if at all ujion the flanks, 

 which are rounded; the neck is of about the same thickness as the head pos- 

 teriorly, not so thick as the body at its middle ; tlie geneials are broad and short, 

 there are no posterior ones, properly so called but a single row of larger scales 

 on each side within the supra-labials, the anterior the longest. The fangs in 

 this serpent are remarkable; they are probably more capable of erection than 

 Dr. Smith supposes, but their shape is [)eculiiir; they arc convex anteriorly, 

 concave posteriorly, with a superior and inferior ritlge, compressed laterally, with 

 an elevation in the middle, resembling somewhat a squalus tooth, but of course 

 much more narrow ; they are not channelled anteriorly, but a canal can be dis- 

 tinctly seen running along their middle, the tooth being perforated at its base. 

 It therefore takes its place among the Solcnoglyphs and not the Proteroglyphs, as 

 Dumeril and Bibron conjectured it should from its general resemblance to 

 Elaps, (a specimen of the animal not having at that time reached the Museum of 

 Paris,) and the family A'iperidie, characterized by the absence of fossettes be- 

 tween the eyes and the nostrils, which on the contrary exist in the Crotalidie. 



Gen. Remarks. We have endeavored in the preceding paper to give as cor- 

 rect an account as our means will permit of the West African Reptiles that have 

 come under our notice. All the specimens described or referred to in previous 

 numbers of the Proceedings as presented by Dr. Ford, come from the Gaboon 

 and not Liberia. This is an important correction, for the two countries are 

 widely separate, Monrovia, the capitol of Liberia being in North or Ujtper Guinea, 

 and the Gaboon in South or Lower Guinea; the difference in latitude between 

 the above mentioned town and the mouth of the Gaboon where Dr. Ford is 

 stationed as Physician to an American Missionary establishment being 450 

 miles, and in longitude 1400; the difference in space measured along the line of 

 the coast 1450 miles. This rectification is of much consequence in the study of 

 the geographical distribution of the Reptiles of[Africa. When we consider the very 

 great distance of the Cape of Good Hope from the Gaboon, it is not surprising 

 that the reptiles of the latter region should differ so much from those of the 

 former. Indeed, it is doubtful if among all the reptiles figured and described 

 by Dr. Smith, there be two absoliilrli/ identical and common to both countries. 



Dr. Smith mentions the tollowiug species known to exist in W. Africa, as 

 found also at the Cape, viz. : Kinixis erosa, Varanus niloticus, Chamadeo di- 

 lepis, Agama coIonorura,Dinophis angusticep3(NaiaS.)and Causus ihombeatus. 

 He enumerates nevertheless and describes 144 species belonging to 84 genera. 



According to Prof. Peters, of Berlin, the following species existing in W. 

 Africa are found also in Madagascar, viz., Cham;c!eo dilepis, OxybelJs Kirtlandii, 

 (Lecomptei, D. & B.) Echidna nasicornis, Dactylethra Miilleri, ( Archiv. fur Natur- 

 geschichte, 1855, p. 43,) and (Monatsberichte zu Berliner Acadamie, 1854, p. 

 C14.) 



Few countries probably present a more interesting field to the Herpetologist 

 than Africa, whether we regard the variety or the remarkable character of the 

 forms, and we hope, through the efforts of M. DuChaillu, who is travelling in 

 the Gaboon, with a view to discover if possible the source of the Congo or river 

 Zaire, and of Dr. Ford, who is stationed at the mouth of the Gaboon, that we 

 shall be enabled to develops more fully the Herpetology of that region. 



We have prepared the following list of the species inhabiting Liberia and the 

 Gaboon so far as known, and refer to the splendid work of Dr. Smith for those 

 found at the Cape. Those common to the two regions are printed in italics : — 



Lilicria. 

 Cinixis denticulata, (erosa B.) Oxyhclis Kirtlandii, II. 



Trionyx Mortoui, H. Dinophis Hammondii, H. 



Agama colouorum D. (Dendraspis Jamesoui, A. D ) . 



1857.] 



