344 Mr. G. A. Boulenger on the 



j>ace Forbes, no reference to the species, not diminished by 

 foreign writers ; de Blainville's synonymy is most confusing, 

 Agassiz was clearly in doubt as to what was A. scutatum and 

 what A. verrucosum. 



Miiller and Troschel do not appear to liave been satisfied 

 with Forbes's description of ^'A. scutatum,''^ and there can be 

 no doubt that much confusion would result if that specific 

 name were to be used ; the term with which it is most often 

 confounded is verrucosum, and that goes now that we know 

 that it is synonymous with the caput-medusce of Linngeus. 

 Scutatum, then, should not usurp the place long occupied by 

 the specific name given by Miiller and Troschel. 



Gorgonocephalus Linckii. 



? Astrophyton arborescens, Peuu. T^rit. Zool. iv. (1777) p. 5G (uon M. & 



Tr.).. 

 ? Asterias caput-meduscp, Turt. Brit. Faim. (1801) p. 140. 

 ? Astrophyton scutatuni, Flem. Brit. An. (1827) p. 489 ; Couch, Corn. 



Faun. i. (1838) p. 84 (nou Gould, Inv. Mass. (1841) p. 345). 

 ^ Euryale scutatum, de Bl. Actin. (1834) p. 246. 

 Astrophyton scutatum, Forbes, Brit. Starf. (1840) p. 67 (non Agassiz, 



Mem. Soc. Neuch. ii. (1839), Notice &c., p. 11. 

 Astrophyton Linclii, M. & Tr. S.yst. Ast. (1842) p. 122 ; Lyman, 111. 



Cat. Mus. Zool. i. (1865) p. 190 ; Norman, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist, 



XV. (1865) p. 105. 

 GorqonocepJialus Linckii, Lyman, Chall. Rep. xiv. (1882) p. 264; 



Hoyle, Proc. R. Phys. Soc. Ediub. viii. (1885) p. 138. 



XLV. — Remarks on the Genus Heterolepis, Smith. 

 By G. A. Boulenger. 



Although specimens of the West-African Heterolepis poensis 

 have been frequently received during the forty years that have 

 elapsed since the establishment, by AndrewSmith, of this curious 

 genus of Snakes, the type species, H. capensis, remained one 

 of the British Museum's most important desiderata. I was 

 therefore extremely pleased to receive a few days ago, through 

 the kindness of Mr. Trimen and Mr. Peringuey, of the South- 

 African Museum, a specimen from Delagoa Bay, consisting 

 of the head and anterior part of the body and the tail, of what 

 I take to be the long-desired H. capensis. 



This specimen agrees so well with Peters's H. Gueinzii, 

 from Port Natal, that I entertain no doubt as to the identity 

 of the two. The late Prof. Peters felt in fact very doubtful 

 as to the propriety of separating //, Gueinzii from H. capensis, 



