266 BULLETIN 58, LTNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSELTM. 



c^ Suture between rostral and internasal considerably shorter than between rostral 

 and first supralabial (fig. 255). 

 d' One outer scale row smooth, or none. 

 e^ Second row of temporals consisting of 1 or 2 scales; 3 supralabials entering 



eye N. stolata, p. 280. 



e^ Second row of temporals consisting of 3 scales; normally only 1 supralabial 



(rarely 2) entering "eye N. annularis, p. 291. 



cP Two or three outer scale rows smooth ]V. piscator, p. 288. 



b^ Subcaudals more than 105 pairs jV. pryeri, p. 284. 



a^ Scale rows, 15; supralabials, 6 N. sioinhonis, p. 293. 



NATRIX VIBAKARI" (Boie). 

 EIBAKARI. 



1826. Tropidorotus vibahari Boie, Isis, 1826, p. 207 (type-locality, Japan; Blom- 



hoff, collector); Bijdr. Natuurk. Wetensch., II, Pt. 1, 1827, p. 254.— 

 Temminck and Schlegel, Fauna Jap., Rept., 1837, p. 87, Ophid., pi. v 

 (Japan, Decima). — Schlegel, Phys. Serp., II, 1837, p. 316. — Dumeril 

 and BiBRON, Erpet. Gen., VII, Pt. 1, 1854, p. 595 (Japan). — Bleeker, 

 Natuurk. Tijdschr. Nederland. Indie, XVI, 1858, p. 204 (Japan).— Mar- 

 tens, Preuss. Exped. Ost- :\sien, Zool., 1, 1866, p. Ill (Yokohama), 1876, p. 

 379.— Strauch, Mem. Acad. Sci. St. Petersb. (7), XXI, No. 4, 1873, 

 pp. 174, 277 (Possiet Bay; Baranovski Post, Suifun River, Amurland). — 

 Boulenger, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (6), V, Feb. 1890, p. 139 (Khabarovka, 

 Ussuri); Cat. Snakes Brit. Mus., I, 1893, p. 221 (Ussuri; Yokohama; 

 Kobe; Formosa). — Boettger, Kat. Schl. Mus. Senckenberg., 1898, p. 21 

 (Hondo).— Wall, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1903, p. 99 (Nagasaki; Mt. 

 Fuji); 1905, II, p. 513 (Hondo).— Nikolski, Zap. Imp. Akad. Nauk, S. 

 Peterburg (8), XVII, No. 1, 1905, p. 214 (Possiet Bay). 



1827. Tropidonotus vibikari F. Boie, Isis, 1827, p. 535 (err. typ). 



1876. Tropidonotus martensii Hiloendorf, Mitth. Deutsch. Ges. Ost-Asiens, I, 

 heft 10, pp. 30, 31 (substitute name) (Yokohama); Sitz Ber. Ges. Naturf. 

 Fr. Berlin, 1880, p. 115.— Fritze, Mitth. Deutsch. Ges. Ost-Asiens, V, 

 1891, p. 239 (not in Yezo). 



Doctor Hilgendorf changed the well-known specific name of this 

 species into T. martensii because the name Hibakari by its significance, 

 as indicating a deadly snake, is undesirable. This change, of course, 

 is wholly inadmissible under all recognized nomenclatural codes. 

 The principle involved wovdd cause endless confusion and set the law 

 of priority at naught. 



Description. — Adult male; U.S.N.M. No. 23335; Yokohama; Sep- 

 tember, 1896; L. Stejneger, collector (figs. 239-241). Rostral 

 much broader than high, just visible from above; internasals rather 

 large, truncate anteriorly, their suture with the rostral longer than 

 half their width and longer than suture between rostral and first 

 supralabial; prefrontals considerably larger than internasals, broadly 

 in contact with supraocular; frontal slightly longer than its distance 



a Vibakai'i, or more correctly hibakari, is the name given by the Japanese to this snake, 

 under the impression that it is so poisonous that its victim will live only through the 

 day. Needless to say, it is perfectly harmless. 



