HERPETOLOGY OF JAPAN. 331 



o-round color. Of 45 specimens examined by me only six are mela- 

 nistic, while in British Museum there is the same number in a total of 

 14 specimens. The black specimens are not confined to any one 

 locality, but are found in all the islands, Yezo, Hondo, Shikoku, and 

 Kiusiu, nor is this phase peculiar to the adults, as shown by No. 13754, 

 which is quite youno;. In most of these black specimens, the labials, 

 throat, anterior ventrals, and several longitudinal series of spots on 

 the sides of the neck are more or less whitish. 



In the pale, striped specimens there is also considerable variation. 

 Thus the width of the stripes is not always the same, they being some- 

 times of eciual width, sometimes the outer ones wider than the median 

 ones, sometimes vice versa; sometimes the median stripes involve one 

 row of scales only, the seventh, sometimes two, the sixth and seventh, 

 or even three, viz, the eighth. The underside is also subject to great 

 variation from nearly uniform whitish, or yellowish, to uniform slate- 

 blue, with a distinct whitish line marking the lateral angle. 



The most remarkable variation in coloration is probably that of the 

 young, for while the majority appear to have a very distinct pattern 

 of dusky dorsal cross lines and an ornate pattern on the head, as 

 described above, others of exactly the same age are practically colored 

 like the adults. Thus No. 34018, which shows as yet no longitudinal 

 stripes, measures 413 mm. in total length, while the two striped young, 

 Nos. 13754 and 34544, are respectively 375 and 378 mm. long. Of 

 these the latter is pale and shows faint traces of a pattern on top of the 

 head, sometimes also noticeable in larger specimens; the former is 

 melanistic with a pale-brown underside. 



Habitat. — This species seems to be confined to Japan proper. 

 Numerous specimens are in the various museums from Kiusiu, Shi- 

 koku, Hondo, and Yezo. That it also occurs in the seven islands of 

 Idzu is shown by a specimen from Nil shima in the Science College 

 Museum, Tokyo (No. 92). Dr. Wall has recently recorded two 

 specimens from the island of Yaku, south of Kiusiu. 



A specimen in British Museum is said to have been collected by Mr. 

 J. H. Leech at Gensan, Korea, but the locality is uncorroborated and 

 highly suspicious. Mr. Leech also collected in Japan, and there is 

 probably some error involved." 



Such is probably also the case with regard to a specimen in the 

 Science College Museum, Tokyo (No. 8), said to have been collected 

 by Mr. Tashiro in Okinawa shima. The occurrence of this snake in 

 the Riu Kius is highly improbable. 



Similar remarks apply to Doctor Slunin's specimen from Hongkong 

 in the St. Petersburg Museum. 



oSee p. 29, under Hynobius leechii. It should be noted, however, that Werner has 

 recently referred an aberrantly colored specimen to this species, which Doctor 

 Haberer is said to have collected at Hankow, China, and which is now in the collection 

 of the Academy of Sciences in Miuiich. The unfortunate part is that Doctor Haberer 

 also collected in Japan (Werner, Bayer, Akal., p. 383), and added two other Japanese 

 snakes to the Chinese fauna (see E.climacophora, p. 326 and conspicinala, p. 336). 



