HEEPETOLOGY OF JAPAN. 319 



ELAPHE T/ENIURUS« Cope. 



1858. Elaphis rirgatiis Guenther, Cat. Colubr. Sn. Brit. Mus.. p. 95 (part: speci- 

 men c, Chikiang, Cliina) (not of Schlegel). 



1860. Elaphe fa^-niarus Cope, Proc. Pliila. Acad., 1860, p. 565 (type-locality, Ning- 

 po, China, type in Phila. Acad. Mus.; McCartee, collector). — Elaphis 

 tasniurus Guenther, Kept. Brit. India, 1864, p. 242 (Chikiang; Ningpo). — • 

 Strauch, Mem. Acad. Sci. St. Petersb. (7), XXI, no. 4, 1873, pp. 103, 272 

 (Possiet Bay). — Moellendorff, Journ. N. China Br. R. Asiat. Soc. 

 (n. s.), XI, 1877, p. 104 (Tachiosse, NW. of Peking).— Boxjlenger, Ann. 

 Mag. Nat. Hist. (5), XIX, 1887, p. 170 (part: Chikiang; Shanghai; Pe- 

 king). — Boettger, Offenbach. Ver. Naturk. 26-28 Ber., 1888, pp. 71, 

 131 (Shanghai; Formosa). — Coluber tseniurus Boulexger, Favina Brit. 

 India, Rept., 1890, p. 333 (part: Manchuria; China; Darjeeling); Ann. 

 Mag. Nat. Hist. (6), V, Feb. 1900, p. 139 (hills northwest of Peking); 

 Cat. Snakes Brit. Mus., II, 1894, p. 47 (part: western hills of Peking; 

 Shanghai; Chikiang; mountains of Kiukiang; Darjeeling). — Boettger, 

 Ber. Senckenberg. Naturf. Ges., 1894, p. 138 (South Cape, Formosa); 

 p. 144 (Wusung near Shanghai); Kat. Schl. Mus. Senckenberg., 1898, 

 p. 51 (Shanghai; Formosa). — Wall, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1903, p. 92 

 (Yangtze Valley; Shanghai). — Nikolski, Zap. Imp. Akad. Nauk, S. 

 Peterburg (8), XVII, no. 1, 1905, p. 259 (Possiet Bay; Novgorodsk). 



1879. Elaphis yunnanensis Anderson, Zool. Res. Yunnan Exped., p. 813 (type- 

 locality, Momien, Yunnan). 



Several forms of varying degree of distinctness seem to cluster 

 around E. tseniurus^ The typical form wliich extends fi-om the 

 Himalayas over China and Korea to the Amur Province is character- 

 ized by having 23-25 scale rows, 226-258 ventrals, and 90-111 

 subcaudals, a formula derived from about 20 specimens. A slightly 

 differentiated form with 25-27 scale roAvs, 251-260 ventrals, and 

 104-124 subcaudals inhabits the southern group of the Riu Kiu 

 Islands, as demonstrated by 5 specimens examined by me. • This 

 is Boettger's Coluber sclimaclceri. Finally, the form wliich Fischer 

 called E. grahowskyi" seems clearly entitled to recognition, there being 

 a considerable gap between typical E. tssniurus and the specimens 



« From zaivia, band; oi>pd, tail. 



b Coluber tseniurus ridleyi Butler, Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc, XII, 1899 

 (p. 426), is unknown to me, as that publication is not now received in Washington. 

 f 1885. Elaphis grabowshji Fischer, Archiv Naturg., LI, Pt. 1, 1885, p. 59 (author's 

 separate p. 19), pi. iv, figs. Sa-e (type-locality, Batu Hapu, Pengaron, 

 southeast Borneo; type in British Museum; Grabowski, collector). 

 1887. Elaphis tscniurus Boulenger, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (5), XIX, p. 170 

 (part: Pajo, Sumatra). — Coluber txniurus Boltlenger, Cat. Sn. Brit. 

 Mus., II, 1894, p. 47 (part: SE. Borneo; Sumatra). — Flower, Proc. 

 Zool. Soc. London, 1899, p. 668 (Kuala Lumpar, Malay peninsula). 

 I have added the last reference on the strength of a specimen in the United States 

 National Museum (No. 26234) collected by Dr. W. Ij. Abbott in Trong, Lower Siam. 

 It is undoubtedly an E. gtabowskyi with 25 scale rows, 295 ventrals, and 111 sub- 

 caudals; 9 suprala])ials, and preoculars broadly in contact with frontal. Mr. Flower 

 gives no scale formulas of his specimens, l)ut it seems highly probable that they are 

 the same as Abbott's. 



