354 BULLETIN 58, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



HOLARCHUS FORMOSANUS " (Guenther). 



1863. Simotcs swinhonis Swinhoe, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (3), XII, 1863, p. 225 

 {nomen nudum; not of Guenther, 1864) (Tamsui, Formosa). 



1872. Simotes fonnosanus Guenther, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (4), IX, Jan. 1872, p. 20 

 (type-locality, Takao, Formosa; type in Brit. Mus.; Swinhoe, collector). — 

 Fischer, Abh. Naturw. Ver. Hamburg, IX, 1886, p. 12 (south Formosa; 

 Oldenburg Mus.; Ruhstrat, collector). — Mueller, Verh. Naturf. Ges. 

 Basel, VIII, Pt. 2, 1887, p. 263 (south Formosa).— Boettger, Offenbach. 

 Ver. Naturk. 26-28 Ber., 1888, p. 129; Kat. Schl. Mus. Senckenberg., 

 1898, p. 73 (Hainan I., China). — Boulenger, Cat. Sn. Brit. Mus., II, 

 1894, pp. 222, 359, pi. viii, fig. 2 (Takao, Formosa; Swatow, China); III, 

 1896, p. 640 (central Formosa). — Stejneger, Journ. Sci. Coll. Tokyo, 

 XII, Pt. 3, 1898, p. 221 (Taipa, Formosa).— Schenkel, Verh. Naturf. 

 Ges. Basel, XIII, Pt. 1, 19—, p. 161. 



1878. Simotes bicatenatus Mueller, Verh. Naturf. Ges. Basel, VI, Pt. 4, 1878, p. 

 595 (Fumun, Prov. Kan ton, not of Guenther). 



1894. Simotes hainanensis Boettger, Ber. Senckenberg. Naturf. Ges., 1894, p. 

 133, pi. Ill, figs. 2a-c (type-locality, Hainan; type in Mus. Senckenberg.; 

 Schmacker, collector). 



Saiivage in 1877 has described a Simotes from Cliina as S. vaillantiJ' 

 The chief points of 'difference seem to be the double anal and single 

 preocidar, but as these characters are not absolutely constant in S. 

 formosanus it may possibly turn out to be the same species. 



This species seems also closely allied to //. violaceus which occurs on 

 the continent from Bengal to southern China, and which differs 

 chiefly in having only 17 scale rows and fewer subcaudals. The two 

 species appear to occur together in some localities, thus, for instance, 

 in Hainan." 



Description. — Adult male; Science College Museum, Tokyo, No. 

 17A.; Taipa, Formosa; September, 1897; T. Tada, collector (figs. 304- 

 306) . Rostral higher than broad, projecting, turned over on top of the 

 snout, the portion visible from above nearly as long as the internasal 

 and prefrontal sutures; internasals oblic^ue, much broader than long, 

 smaller than prefrontals, which are in contact with supraocular; fron- 

 tal very large, twice as broad as supraoculars, nearly as broad as long, 

 longer than distance from tip of snout, and nearly as long as pari- 

 etals, which are broad and truncate behind; nostril round, between 

 two nostrils of which the anterior is much the larger ; loreal higher than 

 long; one preocular, not in contact with frontal; one subpreocular; 

 two postoculars, the lower ones on both sides in this specimen abnor- 

 mally coalesced with fifth supralabial; temporals 14-2 , on right side 

 an additional small anterior temporal; eight supralabials, all higher 

 than long, the first three lower, the fourth suddenly higher, sixth, 



a From Formosa. 



&Bull. Soc. Philom. Paris (7), I, p. 107. 



c Cope's Holarchus dolleyamts (Proc. Phila. Acad., 1894 (publ. 1895), p. 423, pi. x, 

 fig. 1), with 17 scale rows and 36 subcaudals, seems to belong to Holarchus violaceus. 



