24 SECOND YARKAND MISSION. 



PsammopMs dories, Jan. : De Fil., Viag. in Persia, p. 356. 



Taphrometopon lineolatum, Strauch : Schlang. Russ. Reichs, Mem. Acad. Sci. St. Pet., xxi, No. 4, 

 p. 185, PI. v ; W. Blanf. : Eastern Pers., ii, p. 422. 



1, Beshterek, south of Karglialik, Eastern Turkestan. 



This characteristic Central Asiatic snake has been fully described and figured by Strauch. 

 The only specimen obtained is of moderate size, being 33| inches long, of which the tail 

 measures 8. Ventrals 195, subcaudals about a hundred, the last three or four injured. The 

 markings on the back are rather less distinct than in Strauch's figure, those on the belly are more 

 developed, there being a subtriangular blackish mark in the middle on the anterior shields ; 

 this passes gradually into a trapezoidal dusky patch, with black lateral margins in the centre, 

 and a row of black spots along the side, and this again gradually into two oblique lines on 

 each side of the ventrals, becoming fainter posteriorly, but quite visible as far as the com- 

 mencement of the tail. Similar colouration is described by Strauch as occurring in a 

 specimen from Krasnovodsk, and another of unknown locality, loc. cit., .p. 192. 



Family 

 23. VlPERA OBTUSA. 



Dwigubsky, teste Strauch; W. Blanf. : Eastern Persia, ii, p. 428. 



Y. euphratica, Martin : Proc. Zool. Soc., 1838, p. 82; Strauch: Schlangen Russ. Reichs, Mem. Acad. 



Sci. St. Pet., xxi, No. 4, p. 221, PI. vi. 

 Echidna mauritanica, Dum. and Bibr. : Erp. Gen., vii, p. 1431. 



1, Kashmir. 



In structure this specimen agrees fully with one which I obtained in Persia, but the 

 colouration is very different, being almost uniform dark olive, with a little mottling of pale 

 straw colour on the labials, chin, and ventral shields. 



The discovery of this species in Kashmir adds considerably to its known range. It is 

 found in Northern Africa, Asia Minor, and other parts of Western Asia, the Trans-Caucasian 

 provinces of Russia, and Persia. 



Family CEOTALID^E. 

 24. HALTS HIMALAYANTJS. 



Giinther : Rept. Brit. Ind., p. 393, PI. xxiv, fig. A; Steindachner : Novara Reise, Reptilien, p. 87. 



1, Mari, Punjab; 2, Kashmir P or Indus valley near Dras. 



In both specimens there are twenty-one rows of scales round the body, not twenty -three. 

 Steindachner has already pointed out that the number is variable. In two specimens in 

 the Indian Museum, one from north-east of Simla, the other labelled from Ladak, the same 

 number of rows of scales occurs conf. Anderson : Proc. Zool. Soc., 1871, p. 196. Judging 

 from these specimens, it would appear that twenty-one is the number most frequently met 

 with to the westward. Dr. Gunther's original specimens, with twenty -three rows of scales, 

 were from Garhwal. 



