422 



BULLETIN 58, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



The case would perhaps be less complicated if we knew all the data 

 relatins;- to the types of Guenther's //. atriceps. They seem to have a 

 suthciently low number of ventrals to be included within IJ. nielano- 

 cepJiala, but I can find no details relating to the ninnber of scales round 

 the body. Guenther gives the number of scales around the neck as 26 

 and 28, respectively, consequently well within the limits oil), melano- 

 cephala, and I have consequently referred them, provisionally at least, 

 to lli(> latter rather tlian to D.fasciaia. 



.,.; ; 3:;<( Boettger's //. fascia- 



tus, frcmi ''Miyakoshi- 

 ma," with 27 scales 

 round the neck, 38 

 round the body, and 355 

 ventrals, is clearly iden- 

 tical with the twenty- 

 one specimens from the 

 same locality now be- 

 fore me. 



With regard to my 

 Disteira orien talis , 

 which was based upon 

 specimens with poste- 

 rior maxillary teeth 

 plainly showing grooves 

 under a low magnification, and consequently believed then to belong 

 to a different genus, see remarks above under the genus (p. 418). 



Description {iigs. 33H--347).— Adult female ; U.S. ^.M. No. 33945; 

 Ishigaki shima, Yaeyama group, Riu Kiu archipelago; April-May, 



Figs. 338-340.— Disteira melanocephala. 2 x nat. size. 338, 

 TOP OF head; 339, SIDE OF HEAD; 340, rostral. No. 4, Sci. 

 Coll. Tokyo. 



^ 



Figs. 341-344.— Disteira melanocephala. 2 X nat. size. 341, top of head; 3.^2, side of head; 



343, UNDERSID3 OF HEAD. 2§ X NAT. SIZE. Mi, ROSTRAL. NO. A40, UiGH SCHOOL, KUMAMOTO 



1899; A. Owston collection. Rostral much wider than high, well 

 visible from above; nasals very long, the suture between them twice as 

 long as that between the prefrontals; the remicircular valvular nostril 

 situated near the outer posterior corner of the nasal; frontal hexag- 



