274 BULLETIN 58, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



the 53 specimens examined by me for this character have two, except 

 one, in which they are fused on one side, and two which have three 

 preoculars on one side.*^ The temporals are almost always 1 + 2, 

 though one of our specimens (No. 7386a) has 2 + 2 on one side.^ On 

 the other hand, the postoculars vary between 3 and 4 and sometimes 

 only 2 ; in our large series there are only three specimens which have 

 4 postoculars on both sides, and eight which have 4 on one side, but 

 Hilgendorf " found 3 and 4 in about even proportion, viz, 23 with 3 

 and 28 with 4 on both sides, and 7 with 3 and 4 unsymmetrically 

 (unless his statement involves some misprint, for instance, 8 instead 

 of 28). 



The coloration and markings, however, are very variable, espe- 

 cially the size and arrangement of the black spots and the amount of 

 black on the underside. In the latter respect specimens vary without 

 regard to locality between almost solid black and uniformly greenish 

 white. The upper surface is often so dark that the dorsal blotches 

 can be made out only with difficulty, but in most cases the orange-' 

 colored spots occupying the second, third, and fourth scale rows on 

 each side are very conspicuous. The orange color is confined to the 

 base and lateral margins of the scales, the median portion and tip 

 being blackish, forming linear spots within the bright area. 



The few Korean specimens examined by me have the dorsal 

 blotches less differentiated and scarcely alternating with the lateral 

 ones, thus forming more or less continuous crossbars and approaching 

 what appears to be the common coloration of northern specimens of 

 Natrix lateralis. 



Hahitat. — This species, as here restricted, is confined to Japan and 

 southern Korea, being represented in the coast regions of the main- 

 land by a closely allied form described hereafter. 



The only definite locality of this species in Korea is Fusan, wiience 

 we have a specimen collected by Jouy. Two other specimens from 

 Korea have also been examined by me, but their exact locality is 

 uncertain, though probably either Fusan or Seoul. 



The tiger snake seems to be common in Kiusiu and Hondo. Blom- 

 hoff, Siebold, and Buerger collected numerous specimens in the 

 neighborhood of Nagasaki; von Martens obtained it for the Berlin 

 Museum in Nagasaki, Yokohama, and Tokyo; British Museum has 

 specimens from Kobe collected by the Challenger expedition and from 



" One specimen (No. 33994) has the h:iwer preocular on both sides fused with the 

 loreal which thus enters the eye. Dr. Wall has examined three specimens with the 

 loreal conflnent with the postnasal on both sides, and one similarly abnormal on one 

 side. 



b No. 33999 has a small at)normal scale-like shield separated off from the upper 

 anterior edge of the first temporal and not reachine; the second. 



cSitz. Ber. Natur* Fr. Berlin, 1880, p. 115. 



