ART. 25 CHINESE AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES STEJNEGER 79 



In the arrangement of the temporals there is considerable vari- 

 ation, the large lower first temporal reaching or not reaching the 

 lower postocular. In all, the first pair of lower labials are small 

 and widely separated, the first pair of chin shields being broadh 

 in contact with mental. The coloration is fairly constant, the 

 markings, esiDecially on the neck and labials being more pronounced 

 in the young. The dark nuchal blotch has mostly the same arrow- 

 head shape as in T. nuchalis. The characteristic black spot on the 

 rostral is semicircular. 



ACHALINUS SPINALIS Peters. 



Synonymy in Herpetology of Japan, 1907, p. 297, to which add : 



AchaUniis spinalis Stanley, Journ. N. China Asiat. Soc, vol. 45, 1914, 



p. 29 (Taichowfu, Chekiang) ; vol. 46, 1915, p. xiii (Ruling). 

 1889. AchaUnus rufescens Gubnther, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 6, vol. 4, 



Sept. 1889, p. 220 (Ichang, China) (not of Boulenger, 1888) ; in Pratt's 



To Snows of Tibet, 1892, p. 240 (Ichang). 

 1893. AchaUnus braconnieri Boulenger, Cat. Snakes Brit. Mus., vol. 1, 



1893, p. 309 (Ichang) (not of Sauvage, 1877?).— Wall, Proc. Zool. Soc. 



London, 1903, p. 88. 

 1910. Cochalinus aspinaUs Rhumbler, Zool. Anz., vol. 34, Dec. 20, 1910, 



p. 468 (substitute name). 



A single half grown specimen (No. 66433) from Foochow, Fukien, 

 by Sowerby, seems to prove that Doctor Wall (1903) and myself 

 (1907) were correct in suspecting the distinctness of Boulenger's Chi- 

 nese A. hraconnieri from the Japanese species. The color distinction 

 pointed out in the Herpetology of Japan (p. 296), as ''the only 

 feature which thus far offers a character by which to distinguish 

 the two forms" falls to the ground, as Mr. Sowerby's Fukien speci- 

 men has a veiy distinct black dorsal line and a similar line on 

 the subcaudals, the typical pattern of A. spinalis. The scale 

 formula of this interesting specimen is as follows: sc. 23; v. 171; 

 a. 1 : subc. ■16 ; oc. — ; t. 2-)-2 ; 1. 6. Internasals are very much 

 shorter than prefrontals, and the chin shields are two on one side 

 and three on the other. 



The question whether the Ichang specimens, identified by Boulen- 

 ger with Sauvage's Ojjhielaps hraconnieri^ from eastern Kiangsi,^^ 

 really belong to that species is still an open one. His diagnosis 

 certainly does not fit any of the other specimens referred to it. 



ENHYDRIS CHINENSIS (Gray) 



1842. HypsirMna chinensis Gray, Zool. Misc. (p. 66) (type locality, China; 

 type in Brit. Mus.; J. R. Reeves, collector). — Guenther, Rept. Brit. 

 India, 1864, p. 283 (China).— Steindachnee, Novara Exped., Rept., 1867, 

 p. 68 (Hongkong). — Mueller, Verb. Naturf. Ges. Basel, vol. 6, pt. 4, 



^ See Herp. Japan, 1907, pp. 295-296. 



