HERPETOLOGY OF JAPAN. 



385 



Variation.--The lateral head-sliields arc subject to considerable 

 variation. Tims there is often a second loreal underneath the ordinary 

 one; the temporals are more or less irregular in many instances; the 

 number of preoculars is sometimes t\yo, while the postoculars vary 

 between two and four. In a large series of specimens from the whole 

 range of the species the minima and maxima of the ventrals have been 

 found to be 146 and 175, the latter in the Formosa specimen described 

 above, and of the subcaudals respectively 44 and 66. 



The coloration is very variable, especially the ground color, which 

 varies from nearly uniform raw umber to nearly blackish, with inter- 

 mediate shades spotted with darker and paler in great profusion. 



Habitat.— ^N^idelj distributed fi'om the eastern Himalayas to the 

 Malay peninsula and archipelago, Indo-China, Philippine Islands, and 



Formosa. 



The only record of its occurrence in the latter island is the female 

 specimen in the British Museum, collected by Mr. Hoist at Taiwan fu, 

 and described above. I owe the opportunity to make this description 

 to the kindness of Doctor Boulenger. 



As yet Psammodynastes pulverulentus has not been recorded from 

 the mainland of China and would thus appear to be an exception to 

 the rule that the Formosan snakes have reached that island from 

 China. On the other hand, its wide distribution in the Philippine 

 Archipelago might tempt one to conclude that this species had arrived 

 in Formosa from the south. With our present defective knowledge of 

 the herpetology of China, such a conclusion would be too hasty, how- 

 ever. It is moreover a significant fact that this snake is at home in the 

 eastern Himalayas, and in the mountains of Assam and Burma, where 

 so many other Formosan species, also occurring in China, have their 

 nearest relatives and probable origin. There is every reason to believe 

 that P. imlverulentus may yet be discovered in the mountains of 

 southern and western China. 



List of specimens of Psammodynastes pulverulentus. 



Brit. Mus. . 



U.S. N. M 

 Do.... 

 Do.... 



Do. 

 Do. 



94.1.26.9 



23753 

 26220 

 34707 



34708 

 34769 



Sex. 



Female" 



....do... 

 ....do ... 

 Male b . 



....do.. 



Locality. 



When 

 collected. 



Near Taiwan 



I 

 fii, Formosa. 



' lS9(i. 



Troiig, Lower I Sept. - 



Siain. I 



....do ' 



j 1904. 



Mount Apo, July 



Mindanao , 



v. I. 



do 



do 



By wiiom col- 

 lected. 



Mr. Hoist.. 



Dr. W. L. Ab- 

 bott. 

 do 



...do... 

 Julv 9 



Dr. K. H. 

 Mearns. 



.do. 

 .do. 



CO 



2+3 



2+2 

 2+3 

 2+3 



2+3 



2+3 



a Description, p. 383. 

 26485--NO. 58—07 25 



b Figs. 317-319. 



