HERPETOLOGY OF JAPAN. 409 



LATICAUDA SEMIFASCIATA " ( Reinwardt). 

 ERABU-UNAGI. 

 Plate XXII. 



1837. Platurus sehii/acdatus Reinwardt. in Schlegel, Pliys. Serj)., II, p. 516 (type- 

 locality, Moluccas; typo, Leiden Mus. No. 1468; Reinwardt, collector). 



1837. Ilydrophis colubrina Schlegel, Phys. Serp., Atlas, pi. xviii, figs. 18-20; 

 Fauna Jap., Rept., 1837, p. 92 (Liukius); Ophid., pi. xb (probably Rein- 

 wardt's type). — Platurus colubrinus Fischer, Jalirb. Wiss. Anst. Ham- 

 lnu'g, V, 1888, p. 18 (Okinawa shima; Tonga; Society Is.). 



1856. Platurus fasciatus var. semifasciata Fischer, Abh. Naturw. Ver. Hamburg, 

 III, p. 30, p. 70 (Reinwardt's type). 



18C0. Platurus fasciatus var. Hallowell, Proc. Phila. Acad., 1860, p. 489 (Loo 

 Choo; Cleopatra I.). 



1874. Platurus schistorhynchus Guenther, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1874, p. 297, 

 pi. XLV, fig* B (type-locality. Savage Island; types in Brit. Mus.). — Bou- 

 LENGER, Fauna Brit. India, Rept., 1890, p. 395 (China Seas); Cat. Sn. 

 Brit. Mus., Ill, 1896, p. 309 (Savage I.; Loo Choo Is.).— Wall, Proc. Zool. 

 Soc. London, 1903, p. 101 (Loo Choos); 1905, II, p. 517 (Miyako; Okinawa; 

 Amami). 



1876. Platurus fasciatus Hilgendorf, Mitth. Deutsch. Ges. Ost-Asiens, I, heft 

 10, pp. 30, 31 (Prov. Satsuma) (not of Latreille). — Doederlein, Mitth. 

 Deutsch. Ges. Ost-Asiens, III, heft 24, July 1881, p. 149 (Amami-o-shima); 

 heft 25, Dec. 1881, p. 210 (Liukiu Is.: Erabu shima).— Okada, Cat. Vert. 

 Japan, 1890, p. 69. (Okinawa shima). 



1876. Platurus laticaudatus Peters, Mon. Ber. Berlin Akad. Wiss., 1876, p. 534 

 (Matuka, Fiji Is.) (not of Linnajus); 1877, p. 417 (part: Berlin Mus. 

 No. 9663, Tonga; 9071, Samoa). 



RiBinwardt's P. semifasciatus must take precedence over Guenther's 

 P. schistorhynchus. I have examined Reinwardt's type in the Leiden 

 Rijksmuseum (No. 1468; probably the same individual which 

 Schlegel has figured, Fauna Japonica, pi. x, especially fig. 2) from the 

 "Moluques," and find it an unquestionable specimen of this species, 

 with divided rostral, one pair of adjacent chin-shields, and keeled 

 posterior ventrals. 



Concurrent with the two apparently disconnected habitats of this 

 species there seems to be an average difference in the number of 

 ventrals. Thus in the eastern group (Tonga, Savage I.), in six recorded 

 specimens the ventrals vary between 177 and 202 (average 187), 

 while in eight western specimens (Riu Kius, Moluccas), they vary 

 between 197 and 212 (average 205). Unfortunately there are two 

 other specimens recorded which to some extent spoil tliis harmony, 

 viz, one from the Riu Kius recorded by Boulenger '^ with only 188 

 ventrals, the other, from the Society Islands, recorded by Fischer,'* 

 with no less than 229 ventrals. With regard to the latter, I am 



o From semi-, half; fasciatus, banded. 



b Reproduced in this work on Plate XXII. 



c Cat. Sn. Brit. Mus., Ill, p. 309: specimen e. 



d Jahrb. Wiss. Anst. Hamburg, V, p. 19: Hamburg Mus. No. 384. 



