SNAKES Ol-' SOUTH AFRICA. 171 



Newcastle-on-Tyne. Is this possibly V. noctula ? The " rich 

 chestnut colour of the fur " particularly alluded to by the authors 

 of the catalogue cited is a description not inapplicable to 

 V. noctula. 



A SYNOPSIS OF THE SNAKES OF SOUTH AFRICA. 

 By G. a. Boulenger. 



Having received several applications for information re- 

 specting the nomenclature of South African Snakes, I have 

 thought that the publication of the following list would be 

 welcome not only to naturalists in the colony but also to 

 herpetologists elsew^iere. The grand work of Sir Andrew Smith 

 (1838—49) is an imperfect guide to the identification of South 

 African reptiles, for the reason that the species described are 

 not arranged in systematic order, and that a great number, 

 often the commonest, are either entirely left out or alluded 

 to by name only, without any definition of their characters. 

 The standard ophiological works of Dumeril and Bibron, 

 Giinther, and Jan, to which I have constantly referred in the 

 following list, as being almost indispensable to the student, 

 are likewise incomplete and out of date. I have therefore 

 added an artificial key (the characters selected applying only 

 to South African forms) to genera and species, which I hope 

 will greatly facilitate their recognition, and perhaps lead to 

 the discovery of some that may be new to science, or hitherto 

 unrecorded from South Africa. I have also indicated the 

 localities whence specimens have been received by the British 

 Museum, and drawn attention to the desiderata. I have taken 

 the 25° lat. S. as the northern limit of the S. African district. 



SYNOPSIS OF THE FAMILIES AND GENERA. 

 1. Stenostomatidj^. Bliud, worm-like burrowing snakes, witli the bellv 

 scaled like the back ; the shield under which the eye is situated 

 borders the lip. 



A single genus. Stenostoma. 



TI. Typhlopid.e. Blind, worm-like burrowing snakes, with the belly 

 scaled like the back ; the shield under which the eye is situated 

 does not reach the lip. 



A single genus. Typhlops. 



