HERPETOLOGY OF JAPAN. 443 



the latter name would be still more far-reaching were we compelled 

 to derive the new family name from it." lender these circumstances 

 it seems preferable to give a new family name derived from the 

 generic term of the African vipers nearest related to the genus Coluber. 

 Tliis genus is Laurenti's (hhra, wliich is equivalent to Bitis given 

 much later. To have adopted the family name Causidx and giving 

 it a much wider significance than intended by its originator would 

 also lead to confusion. 



The chief characteristic of this group is the shortness of the maxil- 

 laries on which the large poison fangs are placed immovably. The 

 maxillary bone is so connected with the other bones of the skull as to 

 be readily movable in a vertical direction so that the fangs can be 

 raised or folded back at will. This apparatus is essentially the same 

 as that of the Crotalids and will be described more in detail under the 

 latter, the chief difference being that in the vipers the maxillary is not 

 scooped out, while in the Crotalids it has a deep hollow for the loreal 

 pit. 



The vipers are confined to the Old World and are found mosth" in 

 Africa. A number of forms also inhabit the palearctic region, one 

 species thus coming within our ])rovince, while only a single viper 

 inhabits the Indian region proper, and none the Malay arcliipelago 

 or Australia. 



Genus COLUBER b Linnaeus. 



1758. Coluber Linn.^sus, Syst. Nat., 10 ed., I, p. 216 (type, C. herus). 



1768. Yipera Laurenti, Syn. Rept., p. 99 (type, V. illyrica). 



1820. Pelias Merrem, Syst. Amph., p. 148 (type. Coluber berus). 



1820. Berus Goldfusz, Handb. Zool., II, p. 144 (type, Vipera berus; not of Oken, 



1816). 

 1822. Chersea Flemixc;, Philos. Zool., II, p. 295 (type, C. vulgaris= Coluber berus). 



The name Coluber was instituted by Linnaeus in 1758 for the great 

 majority of snakes and the "genus" so designated embraced poison- 

 ous as well as nonpoisonous snakes. The term since then has been 

 applied to widel}" different groups of serpents, and there is hardly a 

 name in ophiology which has been more in dispute, or attributed to 

 more kinds of snakes than that of Coluber. It has been restricted 

 so as to fall entirely within the Pythonidije , the Yiperidse, or the agly- 

 phodont Natricoids. All sorts of schemes for ascertaining the type 

 to which the name might be fastened have been tried,'' but without 

 satisfactory results, and even the same author has at various times 

 applied it to widely different genera. 



^According to the International Code, art. 5, "the name of a family or sul)faniily is 

 to be changed when the name of its type genns is changed." 

 b General Latin term for snake, 

 c See, for instance. Cope, Proc. U. S. Nat. jMlis., NI, p. 389. 



