SCOPE AND METHODS 



We provide translations of seven articles in which descriptions of these taxa were published. Three 

 articles are not translated in full, only their parts relevant to the Trimeresurus-complex. Djao & JiANG 

 (1977) include general remarks and a zoogeographical analysis of the herpetofauna of the Xizang Province; 

 diese are not included here. ZHAO et al. (1978) and ZHAO (1995b) contain descriptions of taxa in addition 

 to the Trimeresurus-complex; these are not included. On the other hand, we give full translations of two 

 articles relative to T. xiangshengensis (ZHAO et al., 1978; ZHAO, 1979). The first one is a preliminary, 

 although valid, description; the second one is a more formal and thorough diagnosis of the species. All 

 other species were described in dedicated papers (HUANG, 1982; ZHAO & CHEN, 1990). However, the 

 original description of T. mangshanensis, based on two juveniles, lacks important data about adults and 

 other salient features of this amazing species. So, we also give the translation of another article related to 

 this species and published same year as the original description (CHEN, 1990). The translated articles are 

 arranged according to the chronology of their date of publication and appear in the following order: 



DJAO & JIANG, 1977. 



ZHAO, JIANG & HUANG, 1978. 



ZHAO, 1979. 



HUANG, 1982. 



ZHAO & CHEN, 1990. 



CHEN, 1990. 



ZHAO, 1995b. 



Full references are given in "LITERATURE CITED". These publications require some explanations. 

 First, the Chinese policy until early 1980 was to credit articles to institutions or laboratories rather than to 

 individuals. So we reproduce in bibliography the author(s) as mentioned in the original paper. In the first 

 article, footnotes on pages 64 and 70 clearly indicate that the actual authors are DJAO & JIANG, and the 

 paper is cited in bibliographies under this authorship. 



Second, we used titles as given in the English summaries or as provided in ZHAO & ADLER (1993). 

 The Chinese titles are slightly different, and they are given in the "NOTES" section. Personal, vernacular 

 and geographical names are transcribed according to the pinyin system. We combine transcribed Chinese 

 characters when they form a single word, for example zhuyeqing in place oizhu ye qing, the bamboo-leaf 

 green snake. We retained the spellings of the author's names as mentioned in the English summaries of the 

 original papers. DJAO Er-mie is now spelt ZHAO Er Mi (or Ermi). 



Third, names of the type localities and other places are transcribed from the main Chinese text and not 

 from the English summary. Our reference for geographical names is SUN (1989). 



