734 AFRICAN REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS STEJNEGER. 



39 livr., pi. ii, fig. 4,*) wiiicli Peters refei'S to liis />. scahra var. medici. 

 Even the niarkiiigs on the neck and head seem to be identical. Were 

 these the only distinctions I shonld nnhesitatingly regard the specunien 

 as the yonngof the one here called 1). palmar umf^ and the var. medici 

 as a synonym, but the scutcUation of the head of the young- specimen is 

 so radically different from the old one, and from Sordelli's tigure as 

 well, that I must regard them as two distinct species until it be proven 

 that the individual variation in these snakes is ahnost unlimited, and 

 that there is only one species of ])((si/j>cltis. The specinu^n in question 

 has "25 scale rows, the keels of the lateral rows well denticulated. The 

 head, as comi)ared with No. lOToo, differs as follows: Tlie supraoculars 

 are more arched, as described by Dumeril and Bibron in case of I). 

 ahyssina- the temporals are 2+4-|-5, the two first on(^s being excessively 

 long and smooth, the others small, carinated; the supralabials are very 

 low, the fifth, for instance, being wider than high; the sixth supra- 

 labial is extraordinarily developed, the upper border being elongated 

 obliquely backwards along the lower first temporal and parallel with 

 the latter; the seventh supralabial is also quite elongated and partly 

 below the sixth ; the parietals are long, being as long as frontal and pre- 

 frontals together. I may add that both sides of the head are identical. 



It will be observed that the large uniformly colored specimen (Xo. 

 16755) as regards cephalic scutellation agrees closely with Sordelli's 

 figure, quoted above, while the young and spotted specimen (No. 10750) 

 in nearly every respect agrees with Dumeril and Bibron's J), ahystiina, 

 both as described (Erp. Gen., vii, pp. 490-497) and figured (Atlas, pi. 

 Ixxxi, fig. 2) by them, the chief difference consisting in the lighter and 

 yellower ground color of the latter. It is difficult to see in which other 

 respect Peters' D. scahra var. mossamhica (Keise Mossamb., Zool., in, 1882, 

 J). 120) differs from Dnmeril and Bibron's species, and it would eveii 

 appear that Peters' D. lineolata (Monatsber. Ak. Wiss. Berlin, 1878, p. 

 206) only differs in coloration. 



In view of the above facts I am inclined to think that all through 

 eastern Africa there occur two well defined species of Dasyjulti.s, (1) 

 J), palmar um (possibly only a color variety of true I), scabra) having 

 23 to 25 scale rows; 3 short anterior tenq)orals; iKirietals not longer 

 than frontal; and (2) 1). aby.ssina (with several color xdv'wties,mofisain- 

 bica, lineolata) having 25 to 27 scale rows; 2 very elongate anterior 

 temporals; parietals as long as frontal and prefrontals together. 



Naja nigricollis Keikii. 



A young specimen (No. 20090) from the Tana River, by Chanler. 



The scutellation of the head is ijerfectly normal, except that on the 

 right side there are four postoculars, the lower one having been divided, 

 and that on the left side a snndl portion of the fifth supralabial is 

 divided off forming an additional minute supralabial. 



■ Probably the type ofl^iauconi's Diiimn mccHvt from Mozamliiiiuc; see \k l' of cover 

 odirr. 29. 



