448 



BULLETIN 58, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Maack obtained it in Ussuri, and von Schrenck in various parts of 

 Amurland. Dybowski sent to the museum in Warsaw, Poland, a 

 specimen taken at Possiet Ba}' near the boundary between Korea 

 and the Russian Coast Province, according to Strauch, who also men- 

 tions its occurrence at Udskoi Ostrog. 



The United States National Museum has one specimen from 

 Sakhalin obtained from the St. Petersburg Academy. The museum 

 in Hamburg has three specimens collected by Dieckmann at Nikola- 

 yevsk (No. 2162). 



List of speciintns of Coluber hems. 



Sex. 



Locality. 



Female a Dui, Sakhalin Island 



do.'>. . Sakhalin Island. 



deft do 



(<■) Dui, Sakhalin .. 



When 

 col- 

 lected. 



do 



Ussuri 



Bay Iladshi, .Vmurl. 

 Uisut Island, Liman 

 Nikolayevsk 



By whom col- 

 lected or from 

 whom received. 



St. Petersburg 

 Academy. 



do 



do 



F. Schmidt.... 



do , 



Maack 



L. V. Schrenck. 



do 



do 



9-10 



a Description p. 446; figs. 358-360. 



b Boulenger, Cat., Ill, p. 481. 



e Strauch, p. 279. 



Family CROTALID.E. 



The "pit vipers" receive their name from the deep pit or hole on 

 the side of the face between the nostril and the eye, as shown in 

 fig. 363. This cavity sinks deep into the maxillary bone and repre- 

 sents a "blind" sac lined with epidermis and not connected with any 

 of the other cavities or organs in the head by any inside opening or 

 canal. 



The maxillary bone, into the lower end of which the large hollow 

 fang is immovably fastened like the knife in a handle, is extremely 

 shortened and higher than long so as to appear to be in a vertical 

 position (fig. 361). On the outer face of this bone there is the deep 

 cavity forming the bony walls of the pit already referred to, which 

 separates two articular surfaces. The upper one at the top of the 

 maxillary forms with the corresponding concave face of the lachrymal 

 (prefrontal) bone, which projects from and articulates with the frontal 

 bone, a hinge-like joint allowing considerable freedom of motion. 

 The lower articular surface receives the flattened anterior end of the 

 external pterygoid bone (ectopterygoid or transpalatine). It will be 



