508 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [Sept., 



CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE SYNONYMY OF SERPENTS IN THE FAMILY 

 ELAPIDa:. 



BY JOSEPH C. THOMPSON, SURGEON, U. S. N. 



In Mr. Ruthven's epoch-making monograph, Variations and Ge- 

 netic Relationships of the Garter-snakes, one reads: "An examination 

 of the systematic work that has been done upon the snakes shows, 

 as might be expected, that it is largely analytical in its nature, being 

 for the most part descriptive of the existing diversities";^ and a little 

 further along, he adds: "After analysis, therefore, as has been said, 

 comes the need of a larger synthesis."- 



The first step in the synthetic work is the reexamination of speci- 

 mens that have been made the types of new species. This note calls 

 attention to five that should be stricken from the list of valid species. 



Described as New. Correct Status. 



Naja tripudians samarensis Peters Naja tripudians Merrem. 

 Naja morgani Mocquard. Walterinnesia mgyptica Latastc. 



Callophis boettgeri Fritze. Calliophis japonicus Guenther. 



Calliophis swinhoei Denburgh. Calliophis macclellandii (Rein- 



hardt) . 

 Flaps heterochilus Mocquard. Elaps spixii (Wagler). 



Naja tripudians Merrem. 



Type. — Naja tripudians Laur., nova var. Samarensis, Peters.^ 

 Berlin Museum. Loquilocun, Samar, Philippine Islands. 

 The subspecies of Peters, which was later promoted to the rank of 

 a species, is based upon a cobra that is normal in every respect, with 

 the exception that the supralabials are reduced from seven to six. 

 This is brought about by the fusion of the normal third and fourth 

 shields. As the result of this two more characters become altered: 

 there is but one labial, the fused shield, entering the eye, and the 

 rostral shield becomes a trifle wider. Four specimens from Samar 

 have been examined at the United States National Museum and at 

 the Senckenberg Museum. In these specimens the rostral and the 

 supralabial shields were normal, the scale count averaged twenty-one 



1 1908, Btdletin 61, U. S. National Museum, p. 1. 



^Loc. ciL, p. 2. 



3 1861, Mon. Berl. Akad., p. 690. 



