EAST AFRICAN REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS 25 



TJirasops rothscMldi Mocqiiard and that it is necessary to describe 

 them as new. 



The characters on which Schmidt ^ has proposed to distinguish 

 these two genera are not altogether satisfactory and I imagine that 

 they will have to be united ultimately. Unfortunately he had 

 not seen examples of RJiamnopMs aethiopissa Gtinther when construct- 

 ing his key for the genera and species, for this snake has smooth or 

 slightly keeled dorsals and a high rostral, so that neither of these 

 characters assists in separating Rhamnophis from Thrasops, as they 

 are common to both. There jet remain — 



Vertebral row of scales distinctly enlarged ; large occipitals present. Rhamnophis. 

 Vertebral row of scales scarcely if at all enlarged; postparietals numerous, some- 

 times a little enlarged Thrasops. 



On the basis of these characters, therefore, I refer the new form to 

 Rhamnophis (1862) and not to Thrasops (1857). 



Type. — No. 18189, Museum of Comparative Zoology. An adult 

 female taken on the Yala ( = Lukosa) River at the foot of Mount Elgon, 

 Kenya Colony. Collected by H. J. Allen Turner, October, 1915. 



Paraty pes. —Cat. No. 49005, U.S.N.M. Collected at Kaimosi, 

 Kenya Colony by Edmund Heller, January, 1927. Also No. 1-48 in 

 the Museum of the Kenya Colony and Uganda Natural History Soci- 

 ety, Nairobi, being the specimen referred to on pages 79 and 84 of the 

 society's journal as cited above. In addition there were three other 

 specimens collected by Mr. Turner about the same time that he 

 presented one to the Natural History Society, and I purchased the 

 snake now in the Museum of Comparative Zoology. 



Diagnosis. — Differs from the West African R. a. aethiopissa Giinther 

 in having 15 mid-body scale rows (a constant feature in the East 

 African specimens) and in having 7 (rarely 6) upper labials, with the 

 third and fourth entering the orbit. 



It differs from Schmidt's R. ituriensis in the 7 labials, the higher 

 rostral, the broader frontal, smaller parietal, etc., which mark 

 ituriensis off as very distinct from aethiopissa. 



Description. — Agrees with aethiopissa except in the following points: 

 Frontal markedly broader in the middle than in aethiopissa; 7 upper 

 labials of which the third and fourth enter the orbit; chin shields 

 broader; scales smooth or faintly keeled as in aethiopissa, but in 15 

 rows; ventrals 159 (160 to 163 in the paratypes); anal divided; 

 subcaudals 133 (117 to 130 in the paratypes). 



Coloration. — Differs from aethiopissa in lacking the spotting and 

 edging of black on the head shields. Otherwise the color varies 

 from that of aethiopissa to green, with each scale tipped and edged 

 with black. Paratype No. 49005 shows a pair of light lateral longi- 

 tudinal lines on the ventrals; the position of these lines is only 



81923, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat, Hist., vol. 49, art. 1, p. 81. 



