HERPETOLOGY OF JAPAN. 381 



There does not seem to be any convincing proof that these snakes, 

 although provided with grooved fangs at the posterior end of the 

 maxilla, are particular!}^ close allies of the other opisthogl3'ph snakes, 

 such as the Homalopsinse. Nor do the Langahinse which, like the 

 latter and the Natricine snakes, have the hypopophyses present 

 throughout the vertebral column, and which form a group cliiefly 

 confined to Madagascar, appear to belong here. 



Like the coronelline subfamily the present one contains forms of 

 \^ery varied habits, arboreal, terrestrial, and subterranean, diurnal 

 and nocturnal, etc. 



Their distribution is chiefly tropical and southern both in the Old 

 and the New World. The subfamily is therefore represented within 

 our limits by only two genera, each with a single species, both 

 recorded from Formosa. 



They may be distinguished as follows: 



a' Maxillary teeth subeqiial in front of the enlarged posterior grooved fangs; nostril 



between two nasals; scales with apical pits; scale rows 21 ; more than 200 ventrals; 



anal double Boicia hrsepelini, p. 381. 



a- Third or third and fourth maxillary teeth much enlarged; nostril in an undivided 



nasal; scales without pits; scales in 17, or rarely 19, rows; less than 180 ventrals; 



anal entire Psammodynastes pulverulentits, p. 383. 



Genus BOIGA" Fitzinger. 



1826. Boiga Fitzinger, Neue Classif. Rept., pp. 29, 31 (type, Coluber irregularis). 



1843. DipsadomorpTius Fitzinger, Syst. Rept., p. 27 (type, Dipsas trigonata). 



1843. Macrocephalus Fitzinger, Syst. Rept., p. 27 (type, Dipsas drapiezii). 



1843. Gonyodipsas Fitzinger, Syst. Rept., p. 27 (type, Dipsas irregularis). 



1843. Eudipsas Fitzinger, Syst. Rept., p. 27 (type, Dipsas cynodon). 



1843. CepTialopMs Fitzinger, Syst. Rept., p. 27 (type, Dipsas deyidrophila). 



1853. Opetiodon Dumeril, Prodr. Class. Ophid., p. 98 (type, 0. cynodon). 



1853. Triglyphodon Dumeril, Prodr. Class. Ophid., p. Ill (type, T. irregulare). 



1857. ro.ricorf;-i/a^ H.\LLOWELL, Proc. Phila. Acad., 1857, p. 60 (type, T. blandingii). 



1877. Pappophis MacCay, Proc. Linn. Soc. New S. Wales, II, p. 39 (type, 



P. laticeps). 



1895. LiopTiallus Cope, Proc. Phila. Acad., 1894, p. 427 {type, Dipsas fusca). 



Fitzinger's Boiga, of 1826, clearly takes precedence over his Dip- 

 sadomorpJius of 1843, as shown by me.'' 



BOIGA KRiEPELINIc Stejneger 



1902. Boiga h-xpelini Stejneger, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington. XV. p. IG (type- 

 locality, Kelung, Formosa; type in Naturh. Hist. Mus., Hamburg, Xo. 1565; 

 Doctor Warburg, collector). — Dipsadomorphus kraepelini Wall, Proc. Zool. 

 Soc. London, 1903, p. 94 (Formosa). 



a "La Boiga" is a name given by the early French ophiologists to some brilliantly 

 colored tropical snake. The name is probably of barbaric origin. Agassiz suggests its 

 connection with Boa. but apparently with no good reason. 



& Proc. Biol. Soc, Washington, xV, 1902, p. 16. 



e Dedicated to Prof. K. Kraepelin, director of the Xatural History Museum in 

 Hamburs;. 



