48 ER. W. PETERS ON AN ASIATIC SNAKE. [Feb. 12, 



Lichtenstein (not Pallas), in the Berlin Museum, and as Bibron ex- 

 pressly remarks that his " Monodiastema" is founded on a speci- 

 men in theLeyden Museum labelled " Coluber trabalis*," the latter 

 is doubtless the same which Temminck received from Lichtenstein in 

 1823. I think this explanation necessary to prove that the habitat 

 of the Leyden specimen is not Siberia properly so called, but the 

 more southern part of Central Asia. 



This snake is (what I should not have found out from Bibron's 

 description), in the form and concavity of the head, and in the lan- 

 ceolate longitudinally-grooved scales, very much like Ccelopeltis la- 

 cert ina. There is scarcely any difference in the plates of the head, 

 excepting in the loreal, which is single and very long. But the general 

 form of the body and tail is very different, much longer and more 

 slender than in Ccelopeltis, In a specimen of r065 m. in length 

 the head is in all dimensions only half as large as in a Ccelopeltis 

 lacertina of 0*930 m. in length. All this agrees exactly with the 

 description Brandt (Bulletin Scientifique de I'Acade'mie des Sciences 

 de St. Petersbourg, iii. p. 243) has given, in 1837, of a new species of 

 snake, brought home by M. Kareline from the eastern shores of 

 the Caspian Sea. His description, although rather short, is very 

 accurate ; but he has omitted to pay attention to the form of the 

 teeth. 



"Taphrometopon, n. g. Scutum verticale valde elongatum, 

 postice angustissirnum. Corpus necnon cauda valde elongata 

 et tenuia. Frons et vertex depressa. Frontis et verticis ra- 

 tione ad genus Ccelopeltis accedit, sedprceter corporis staturam, 

 capite, preBsertim rostro longiore, tetragono et scuto loreo elon- 

 gato, simplice, necnon superciliis minus acute prominentibus 

 difert" 



"Coluber (Taphrometopon) lineolatus. Caput sat an- 

 gustum, oblongo-tetragonum. Colltim penna anserina paulo 

 crassius. Sqtiamce medium dorsum obtegentes omnes satis an- 

 guste lanceolatcE. Abdomen subplanum, album. Collum et 

 abdominis anterior pars punctis lateralibus minoribus et cen- 

 tralibus paulo majoribus olivaceo-nigricantibus adspersa. Frons 

 et verticis, necnon occipitis medium e griseo olivascentia. Dor- 

 sum cinereum, exceptis lineis quatuor e nigricante olivaceis, 

 quarum du(B in superciliis incipientes parallele, sed partim di- 

 stincte in medio dorso pallidiores ad caudam usque decurrunt, 

 et dues alice pone nares initium capientes ab oculis interruptce 

 in lateribus corporis subevanidce et magis grisece conspiciuntur. 

 Corporis longitudo V 11", caudce 5|, abdominis latitudo summa 

 4'"." 



Brandt does not mention the grooved appearance of the scales ; 



* Dumeril (/. e. p. 902) cites Coluber trabalis, " Schlegel." But this seems to 

 be a mistake ; for Schlegel's Coluber trabalis is, as Dr. Giinther (Catalogue of 

 Snakes, p. 93) justly remarks, synonymous with Coluber {Etaphis) dione, Pallas, and 

 the true Coluber trabalis of Pallas only a variety of Zamenis atrovirens, Shaw, sp. 



