HERPETOLOGY OF JAPAN. 373 



1880. Ophites japonims Guenther, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (5), VI, Dec, 1880, p. 462 

 (type-locality, Nikko, Hondo; types, in Brit. Mus.; Maries, collector). — 

 Mueller, Verh. Naturf. Ges. Basel, VIII, Pt. 2, 1887, p. 270 (Japan).— 

 Dinodon japonicus Boulenger, Cat. Snakes Brit. Mus., I., 1893, p. 363 

 (Nikko, Hondo). — Boettger, Kat. Schl. Mus. Senckenberg. , 1898, p. 38 

 (Hondo).— Wall, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1903, p. 100 (Kiusiu); 1905, 

 II, p. 513 (Yamanashi, Hondo). — Nikolski, Zap. Imp. Akad. Nauk, S. 

 Peterburg (8), XVII, No. 1 (1905), p. 224 (Nagasaki). 



Hilgendorf's Ophites orientalis was described in the Sitzungs- 

 Bericht of the meeting held October 19, 1880, which was probably 

 published very shortly after that date. Guenther's 0. japonicus, on 

 the other hand, appeared in the December number of the Annals and 

 Magazine of the same year. There is, therefore, apparently a very 

 brief priority in favor of Hilgendorf's description. It may be inter- 

 esting to note that Hilgendorf as early as 1876 indicated this species, 

 but refi'ained from naming it.** 



Description. — Young; U.S.N.M. No. 34052; Mount Fuji; August, 

 1898; Owston collection. Rostral broader than high, the portion 

 visible from above scarcely as long as suture between internasals; 

 the latter small, less than half as long as prefrontals, the suture 

 between the former only half as long as that between the latter; 

 prefi'ontals broadly in contact with supraoculars and with eye; fron- 

 tal as broad as long, and as long as its distance from rostral, shorter 

 than interparietal suture; supraoculars small, less than half the size 

 of frontal; parietals large, nearly twice as long as frontal; nostril 

 large, round, between two subequal nasals; loreal narrow, twice as 

 long as high, entering eye below prefrontal; no preocular; two post- 

 oculars; temporals, 2+3; a very large upper temporal of the third 

 row bordering the posterior half of parietal externall}^; 8 supralabials, 

 sixth largest, fourth and fifth entering eye; 5 lower labials in contact 

 with anterior pair of chin-shields, which are somewhat larger than 

 posterior; 17 rows of scales, all of which are smooth on the anterior 

 half of the body, but on the posterior half the median 5 to 7 rows 

 have a faint keel at the base of each scale; 207 ventrals, distinctly 

 angulate laterally; anal divided; 74 pairs of subcaudals. Color 

 (in alcohol) above dull ecru-drab'' with dark brown cross-bars, 38 on 

 the body, 15 on the tail, these bars being broader than the intervening 

 light ground color on the anterior part of the body, but becoming 

 gradually narrower posteriorly so as to be narrower than the light 

 interspaces; the latter are paler colored along the edges of the dark 

 cross-bars; on the posterior half of the body the lower part of the 

 bars are separated off by a narrow light line between fourth and fifth 

 scale row; on the sides of the middle third of the body there is an 



aMitth. Deutsch. Ges. Ost-Asiens, I, heft 10, July, 1876, p. 30. 

 6 Hilgendorf says: "Oberseite in frischem Zustande, schmutzig Ijraunroth, ziemlich 

 hell." 



