lL'3. DA8YPBLTI8. 355 



Rachiodon abyssinicus, lhitn. # Bibr. t. c. p. 496. 



inornatus, Dum. $ llibr. t. c. p. 498. 



Dasypeltis scabra, Gnuth. Cut. p. 142 (1858); Peters, Reise n. Mo$- 



santb. iii. p. 120 (1882) ; Boettg. Ber. Senck. Get. 1887, p. 163, 



\ 1 388, p. :-.. 

 ptilmarum, Giinth. 1. c. ; Stejneger, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. xvi. 



1894, p. 7."..;. 

 Dipsas medici, Bianconi, Mem. Ace. Bologna, x. 1859, p. 501, 



pi. xx \i. 

 Rachiodon scaber, vars. abissinicus, unicolor, subfasciatus, Jan, 



Elenco, p. 106. 

 Dasypeltis scaber, var. mossanibica, Peters, Mon. Berl. Ac. 1864, 



p. 644. and Reise n. Mossamb. iii. p. 120. , 



scaber, vars. breviceps, abyssinicus, Peters, Mon. Berl. Ac. 1864, 



p. <>45. 

 Rachiodon scaber, var. inornatum, Bocage, Jorn. Sc. Lisb. i. 1867, 



p. 227. 



Dasypeltis scaber, var. fasciolata, Peters, Mon. Berl. Ac. 1868, p. 451. 

 scabra, var. medici, Peters, Reise n. Mossamb. iii. p. 121 ; 



M'.cquard, Mem. Cent. Soc. Philom. 1888, p. 131. 

 scabra, var. fasciata, Mocquard, Bull. Soc. Philom. (7) xi. 



1887, p. 81 ; Boettg. Ber. Kenck. Ges. 1888, p. 76. 

 scabra, var. palmar i an, Bouleng. Zoologist, 1887, p. 179 ; Boettg. 



I. c. p. 77. 

 - elongata, Mocquard, Mem. Cent. Soc. Philom. 1888, p. 131, 



pi. xii. tig. 2. 

 abyssina ?, Stejneger, I. c. 



Snout short, rounded, very convex ; rostral broader than deep, 

 just visible from above ; internasals a little shorter than the prae- 

 frontals ; frontal often more or less distinctly grooved along the 

 middle, a little longer than broad, longer than its distance from 

 the end of the snout, as long as the parietals or shorter ; one (rarely 

 two) prae- and two (rarely one or three) postoculars ; temporals 

 2+3 or 3+4 (rarely 1 +3) ; seven (rarely six or eight) upper labials, 

 third and fourth (or second and third) entering the eye ; a pair of 

 large chin-shields, followed by a pair of smaller ones. Scales in 

 23 to 27 rows. Ventrals 185-263 ; anal entire ; subcaudals41-94. 

 Pale olive or pale brown above, uniform or with dark brown spots, 

 usually disposed in three longitudinal series ; a /^-shaped dark 

 marking on the nape, preceded by one or two on the head ; the 

 latter may be broken up into spots ; upper labials with brown 

 vertical bars ; belly yellowish, uniform or dotted or spotted with 

 brown or blackish. 



Total length 760 millim. ; tail 105. 



Africa, as far north as Sennar and Sierra Leone. 



A. Vertebral spots elongate and more or less confluent into a 

 zigzag vertebral band ; a black stripe along upper surface of 

 tail ; belly spotted with blackish. 



a-c. Hpr. rf (Sc. 25; V. Port Elizabeth. H. A. Spencer, Esq. [P.]. 



189; C. 66), $ (Sc.27; 

 V. 204; C. 69), & yg. 

 (Sc.26; V207;C.62). 



2*2 



