90 BARBOUR — REPTILES FROM SINAI AND SYRIA [^VoLV^* 



present, and the temporals are 1 + 2. The frontal is as long as its 

 distance from the tip of the snout, but little wider than a supra- 

 ocular, and about four fifths the length of a parietal. 



The next two specimens were taken under stones at the Monas- 

 tery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai. The scale formula for these 

 is Sc. 15, 15; V. 140, 153; A. ^, ^; Subc. 62, 56. In both of these 

 specimens loreals are present, and temporals are 1 + 1, and the 

 frontals are wider than the supraoculars, shorter than the distance 

 from the tip of the snout, and considerably shorter than a parietal. 

 The two snakes are of almost exactly the same size, and yet the 

 shape of the frontal is rather different in the two specimens, but 

 both fall within the limits which I have mentioned. In coloration 

 both are dusky olive, with many distinct dark cross-bands, and with 

 the usual band on the nape, which does not close below. I might 

 have said that the ground color of the specimen from Petra was 

 rather ochraceous or buffy, while these are grayish. 



The fourth and fifth specimens are two young of the same size, 

 both from Petra. One is buffy in color, with cross-bands com- 

 posed of spots more or less in alignment. The second is sandy 

 gray, with distinct dark olive cross-bands, and with a dusky mid- 

 ventral region. This coloration exactly matches that figured by 

 Jan for fasciatus (Icon. Gen., Li\T. 15, pi. 5, fig. 2). The scale counts 

 for these two specimens follow: Sc. 15, 15; V. 154, 146; A. j, j; 

 Subc. 57, 56. In both these specimens loreals are present, and 

 temporals are 1+1, and the frontal is as long or slightly longer 

 than its distance from the tip of the snout, and almost exactly the 

 same length as the parietals. 



E. coronella is said to have the scales in from 15 to 19 rows, 

 usually in 17, the ventrals 103 to 148, and the subcaudals 24 to 52, 

 while E. fasciatus has the rows 15, the ventrals 158 to 171, and the 

 subcaudals 48 to 62, while an examination of the published accounts 

 of the coloration shows that that described for each species is fairly 

 well represented in this small series of five specimens. At the time 

 of writing the second volume of the Catalogue (1894), Boulenger 

 had no specimens of fasciatus, and but six of coronella. Five of 

 these had the scales in 15 rows, and one in 19. It will be noticed 

 that all of these specimens have fifteen rows, while the number of 

 ventrals varies from 140 to 158. 



