24 BULLETIN 151, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Genus PHILOTHAMNUS Smith 



PHILOTHAMNUS SEMIVARIEGATUS Smith 



Philothamnus semivariegatus Smith, 1849, Illustr. Zool. S. Africa, vol. 3, pis. 59, 60,. 

 and 64. — Stejneger, 1893, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus.. vol. 16, p. 728. — Boulen- 

 GER, 1894, Cat. Snakes Brit. Mus., vol. 2, p. 99. 



2 (U.S.N.M. 20098, 20105) Tana River, K. C. (Chanler) 1892. 

 1 (U.S.N.M 20128) Mauda Island, K. C. (Denhardt) 1892. 



Mid-body scale rows, 15; ventrals, 169 to 182; subcaudals, 138 to 

 148; labials, 9, the fifth and sixth entering the orbit (Tana River), 

 the fourth, fifth, and sixth in the Manda Island snake; temporals, 

 2 + 2. The largest specimen measures 1,102 (717 + 385, the tip of 

 the tail missing) mm., the other reptiles are but slightly smaller. 



Genus HAPSIDOPHRYS Fischer 



HAPSIDOPHRYS LINEATA Fischer 



Hapsidophrys lineaius Fischer, 1856, Abli. Natur. Ver. Hamburg, vol. 3, p. Ill, 

 pi. 2, fig. 5. — Boulenger, 1894, Cat. Snakes Brit. Mus., vol. 2, p. 104. 



3 (U.S.N.M. 4^026-7, 49457) Kenya Colony. (Heller) 1911-12. 

 1 (U.S.N.M. 49085) Kisumu, K. C. (Heller) 1912. 



This snake has never before been recorded east of Uganda, and 

 though many West African species have turned up in the forested 

 areas around Mount Elgon to the north of Kisumu, the latter seems 

 an improbable habitat for a forest species. Kisumu certainly has 

 many trees scattered through the European residential section on 

 the hill, while only a couple of miles below is Port Florence, on 

 Lake Victoria, where boats arrive almost daily from Uganda. H. 

 lineaius has long been knov/n from Uganda and it is possible that these 

 snakes may have been accidentally imported with produce and 

 become established, or may have been brought over by natives to sell. 



Mid-body scale rows, 15; ventrals, 156 to 166; subcaudals, 90 to 

 108; temporals, 2 + 1 (instead of 1+2) in three snakes; the fourth 

 has 2 + 1 and 2 + 2 on the right and left sides respectively; labials 

 and other scalation normal. The largest snake measures 970 

 (685 + 285) mm., the smallest 417 (305 + 112) mm. 



Genus RHAMNOPHIS Gunther 



RHAMNOPmS AETHIOPISSA ELGONENSIS, new subspecies 



Thrasops rothschildi (part) Loveridge (not of Mocquard), 1916, Journ. East 

 Afr. and Uganda N. H. Soc, pp. 79 and 84; also 1923, Proc. Zool. Soc. 

 London, p. 879 (Yala (=Lukosa) River records only). 



Relations. — In going over the snakes of the genera Rhamnophis 

 and Thrasops in the collection of the Museum of Comparative 

 Zoology, where all the six described species are represented, I find 

 that I was in error in referring certain East African tree snakes to 



