SERPENTES. 127 



known from Bum, Ambon, Ceram, Halmahera, and Ternate. It occurs on the 

 following Papuan Islands : — Salawati, Mysol, the Ke and Ai'u groups ; on Jobi 

 and Sook (Misori Islands) in Geelvink Bay. On the mainland of Papua it is 

 widespread, being known from Dorey, Mansinam, Sorong, Mt. Ai-fak; in 

 northern Dutch Papua; from the Fly River country of British Papua; and from 

 Huon Gulf, and other places in Kaiser Wilhelm's Land. It occurs on various 

 islands in Torres Straits, in the D'Entrecasteaux group, in the Louisiade Islands; 

 and is widely spread in the Solomon Islands, as the following list shows : Treasury, 

 Alu (one of the Shortland group). New Georgia, Gela, and Guadalcanar. 



M6hely (Termes fiizetek, 21, p. 172) proposes a subspecific name for ex- 

 amples which he says fall in Boulenger's var. B; his examples come from various 

 localities in German New Guinea. Werner (Verh. Zool. bot. ges. Wien, 49, 

 p. 152) holds to this racial name of B. i. papuana (Mehely). A glance at Bou- 

 lenger {loc. cit.) will show that specimens of his var. B come from almost any- 

 where, so that it can not be the basis of the name for a geographic race. The 

 material at hand consists of one adult from Manokwari, Papua; two from 

 Ceram, and one from Burn. 



Psammodynastes pulverulentus (Boie). 



BoiE, Isis, 1827, p. 547. Boulenger, Cat. snakes Brit, mus., 1896, 3, p. 172-174. Stejnegee, Bull. 

 58, U. S. nat. mus., 1907, p. 383-385. 



Type locality: — Java. 



Stejneger has given a very full account of this species, so satisfying, indeed, 

 that the material at hand adds httle to our knowledge of this form. He suggests 

 that in the migration of this species to Formosa, its absence, so far as we know, 

 from the mainland of China leads one to suppose that it reached the island from 

 the south, probably from the Philippines. He adds, however, that there is 

 "every reason to believe that P. pulverulentus may yet be discovered in the 

 mountains of southern and western China."- Wliile I am not able now to add 

 this form to the known fauna of the mainland of Cliina, I have two typical 

 examples from Mt. Wuchi in central Hainan. Knowing how close is the rela- 

 tion of the fauna of this island to that of south China, we may now be quite certain 

 of its presence there. 



These two examples have the under surface very dark brown, spotted with 

 black. A specimen taken April, 1907, at Sindanglaia, Java, had in life a salmon- 

 pink belly, with a few scattered black specks. M. C. Z., No. 4,077 is a specimen 

 of this species from Tay-ninh, in French Cochin-China. In this individual the 

 belly is almost immaculate light brown. On the sides of the posterior half of 



