288 



BULLETIN 58, tTNITP^D t^TATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



NATRIX PISCATOR" (Schneider). 



1799. Hydrus piscator Schneidku, lli.st. Amphib., I, p. 247 (type-locality, East 

 Indies). — Matrix piscator Merrem, Syst. Amphib., 1820, p. 122. — Stej- 

 NEGER, Journ. Sci. Coll. Tokyo, XII, Pt. 3, 1898, p. 221 (Taipa, Formosa). — 

 Tropidonotus piscatorBoiE, Isis, 1827, p. 535. — Boulenger, Cat. Sn. Brit. 

 Mus., I, 1893, ]). 230 (India to southern China and Malay Archipelago); 

 Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1899, p. 163 (Kuatun, Prov. Fokien, China).— 

 BoETTGER, Ber. Senckenberg. Naturf. Ges., 1894, p. 132 (Hainan); Kat. 

 Schl. Mus. Senckenberg., 1898, p. 22 (India, China, and Japan). — 

 Wall, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1903, p. 86 (Hongkong). 



1837. Tropidonotus quincunciatus Schlegel, Phys. Serp., II, p. 307, pi. xii, figs. 

 4-5 (part; type-locality, Java). — Jan, Icon. Ophid., livr. 27, 1868, pi. i, 

 figs. 1-2 (Bengal).— BoETTGER, Offenbach. Ver. Natnrk. 24-25 Ber., 1885, 

 p. 150. (China); 26-28 Ber., 1888 (p. 76). 



1860. Amphiesma fiavipunctatuvi Hallowell, Proc. Phila. Acad., 1860, p. 503 

 (type-locality. Canton River, China; type in Phila. Acad.; cotype U. S. 

 Nat. Mus. No. 7387; Hongkong; Brooke, collector). 



A large number of synonyms, many based on the various plates in 

 Russell's "Indian Serpents/' are here purposely omitted. 



Description (fios. 250-252) .—Adult female; U.S.N.M. No. 36511; 

 Sci. Coll. Tokyo, No. 13; Taipa, Formosa; September, 1897; T. 



251 



Figs. 250-252.— Natrix i-iscator. IJ X nat. size. 25(), top of head; 231, side of head; 252, under- 

 side OF HEAD. No. 9/>, Sci. Coll. Tokyo. 



Tada, collector. Rostral much broader than high, visible from 

 above; internasals much narrowed anteriorly, their sutures with the 

 rostral scarcely more than one-half the suture of the latter with the 

 first supralabial; prefrontals broadly in contact with su]>raoculars; 

 frontal, with almost parallel sides, longer than its distance from tip of 

 snout, and slightly longer than the interparietal suture; parietals 

 longer than the distance of eye from tip of snout; nostril small, semi- 

 lunar, in the upper posterior corner of the anterior nasal; loreal higher 



a Signifying a fisherman. The masculine form is retained notwithstanding the fact 

 that Natrix is of the feminine gender, in analogy with the usage of Linnaeus himself 

 in writing Coluber natrix, a usage followed by all subsequent writers ( Tropidonotus 

 natrix). A similar case is Agkistrodon contortrix. 



