eo 
176. THELOTORNIS. ; 185 
Dryiophis, part., Giinth. Cat. Col. Sn. p. 155 (1858) ; Jan, Elenco 
sist, Ofid. p. 88 (1863). ; 
Cladophis, ei Dum. Arch, Mus, x. 1859, p. 204. 
Maxillary teeth 16 or 17, gradually increasing in length, 
followed, after a short interspace, by two or three enlarged grooved 
teeth situated below the posterior border of the eye; anterior 
mandibular teeth strongly enlarged. Head distinct from neck, 
with strong canthus rostralis; eye large, with horizontal pupil ; 
nasal entire. Body cylindrical, very slender; scales narrow, very 
oblique, feebly keeled, with apical pits, in 19 rows; ventrals 
rounded. Taillong; subcaudals in two rows. 
Tropical and South Africa. 
In this genus, as in the following, the ectopterygoid bone is 
forked, the two branches articulating with the maxillary (see 
fig. 14, p. 187), a structure not found in any other type of Snakes. 
Thelotornis and Dispholidus further agree in having the brain-case 
widely open in front, as in Celopeltis, Dromophis, Taphrometopon, 
Psummophis, and Dryophis. 
1. Thelotornis kirtlandii. 
Leptophis kirtlandii, Hallow. Proc. Ac. Philad, 1844, p. 62, and 
854, p. 100. 
Thelotornis capensis, Smith, Ill. Zool. S. Afr., Rept., App. p. 19 
(1849); Peters, Mon. Berl. Ac. 1867, p. 235. 
Oxybelis lecomtei, Dum. & Bibr. vii. p. 821 (1854). 
Tragops rufulus, Dum. & Bibr. t. c. p. 827. 
Oxybelis kirtlandii, Hallow. Proc, Ac. Philad. 1857, p. 59. 
A Cnet Fischer, Abh. Naturw. Hamb. iii. 1856, p. 91, pl. ii. 
Drfoplis kirtlandii, Giinth. Cat. p. 156 (1858), and Ann. §& Mag. 
N. H, (8) xi. 1868, p. 22; Boettg. Ber. Senck. Ges, 1888, p. 65 ; 
Jan, Icon. Gén. 32, pl. vi. fig. 2 (1869); Bocage, Herp. Angola, 
p-. 119 (1895). 
pace kirtlandii, A. Dum. Arch. Mus. x. 1859, p. 204, pl. xvii. 
Deviopuis oatesii, Giinth. m Oates, Matabeleland, p. 330, pl. D (1881). 
Thelotornis kirtlandii, Peters, Reise n. Mossamé, iii. p. 181, pl. xix. 
fig. 2 (1882). 
Rostral broader than deep, visible from above; internasals as 
long as broad, nearly as long as the preefrontals, sometimes reaching 
the labials between the nasal and the loreal; frontal once and two 
thirds to twice as long as broad, as long as its distance from the 
rostral or the end of the snout, as long as or slightly shorter than 
the parietals, which are followed by a pair of large occipitals 
separated by a smaller shield; one, two, or three loreals; one pre- 
ocular, not reaching the frontal; three postoculars ; temporals 1 +-2 
(rarely 1+1); eight or nine upper labials, fourth and fifth or 
fifth and sixth entering the eye; three to five lower labials in 
contact with the anterior chin-shields, which are shorter than the 
posterior. Scales feebly keeled, in 19 rows. Ventrals 147-181; 
‘anal divided; subcaudals 117-170. Greyish or pinkish brown 
above, uniform or with more or less distinct darker and lighter 
