170, TAPHROMETOPON. 151 
170. TAPHROMETOPON. 
Taphrometopon, Brandt, Bull. Ac. St. Pétersb. iii. 1838, p. 243; 
Peters, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1861, p. 48; Strauch, Schl. Russ. R. 
p. 186 (1873). 
Chorisodon, Dum, §& Bibr. Mém. Ac, Sc. xxiii, 1858, p. 494, and Erp. 
Gén. vii. p. 901 (1854). 
Psammophis, part., Jan, Elenco sist. Ofid. p. 90 (1863). 
Maxillary teeth 14, very unequal in size, the middle ones much 
enlarged, but not separated from the rest; the solid teeth followed, 
after an interspace, by one or two very large grooved fangs; 
anterior mandibular teeth strongly enlarged. Head narrow, dis- 
tinct from neck, with raised canthus and projecting supraocular ; 
eye large, with round pupil; nostril crescentic, between two nasals ; 
frontal narrow. Body cylindrical; scales smooth, some feebly 
grooved, with apical pits, in 17 rows; ventrals rounded. Tail long; 
subcaudals in two rows. 
Central Asia and Persia. 
1. Taphrometopon lineolatum. 
Coluber trabalis (non Paill.), Lichtenst. in Eversm. Reise, p. 146 
(1823). 
—— (Taphrometopon) lineolatus, Brandt, Bull. Ac. St. Pétersb. iii, 
1838, p. 243. 
Chorisodon sibiricum, Dum. § Bibr. vii. p. 902 (1854), 
Taphrometopon lineolatum, Peters, Proc. Zool, Soc. 1861, p. 48, figs. ; 
Strauch, Schl. Russ. R. p. 185, pl. v. (1878), and Voy. Przewalski, 
Rept. p. 51 (1876); Blanf. Zool. E. Pers. p. 422 (1876), and 2nd 
Yark. Miss., Rept. p. 23 (1878). 
Psammophis dori, Jan, in De Filippi, Viag. Pers. p. 356 (1865). 
Snout moderately prominent, grooved above and on the sides. 
Rostral broader than deep, just visible from above; internasals 
much shorter than the prefrontals, separated from the loreal by 
the nasal; frontal very narrow except in front, nearly twice as long 
as broad, as long as or a little longer than its distance from the end 
of the snout, as long as or a little shorter than the parietals; loreal 
about twice as long as deep; one preocular, forming a suture with 
the frontal; two or three postoculars; temporals 2+2 or 3; nine 
upper labials, fourth, fifth, and sixth entering the eye; five lower 
labials in contact with the anterior chin-shields, which are shorter 
than the posterior. Scales in 17 rows. Ventrals 175-197; anal 
divided ; subcaudals 72-107. Yellowish or pale grey above, with 
longitudinal series of blackish dots or with four olive or brown, 
black-edged stripes, the median pair of stripes prolonged to between 
the eyes, the outer pair to the nostrils, passing through the eyes; a 
dark median streak from the interorbital region to the occiput; 
upper lip white, the anterior shields sometimes with a blackish spot ; 
