347 

 A LIST OF SNAKES FEOM MESOPOTAMIA. 



COLLECTED BY MEMBERS OF THE MESOPOTAMIAN EXPEDITIONARY 

 FORCE, 1915 TO 1919. 



BY 



G. A. BouLENGER, LL.D., D.Sc, F.E.S. 



WITH FIELD NOTES BY CAPT. C. M. INGOLDBY. 



TYPHLOPID^. 



1. Typhlopsbraminus, Daud. 

 Basra (Lieut.-Col. F. Wall). 



Habitat: Southern Asia ; Islands of the Indian Ocean ; South Africa; 

 Mexico (probably transported by human agency). 



GLAUCONIID^. 



2. Glauconiamacrorhynchus, Jan. 

 Faleya, Euphrates (Capt. H. T. Mackenzie). 



Habitat : Algerian Sahara, Nubia, Mesopotamia, Persia. 



BOID^. 



3. Eryx jaculus, L. 



Basra and Sheik Saad (Lt.-Col. F. Wall); Amara (Capt. P. A. Buxton) ; 

 Shaiba (Lt. T. Livesey) ; Basra (Capt. C. R. Pitman) ; Bagdad (Capt. CM. 

 Ingoldby) ; Mesopotamia (Maj. Fitzgerald). 



Habitat : North Africa, S. W. Asia, S. E. Europe. 



Very common along the Tigris within a mile or so of the river especially 

 near villages. Excepting Trop. tessellatus, the most commonly killed snake 

 owing to his frequent appearance above ground in daylight and his 

 sluggish movements. The largest I have measured was 2 feet 5|ins. in 

 length.— C.M.I. 



COLUBRID^. 



4. Tropidonotus tessellatus, Laur. 



Basra (Lt.-Col. F. Wall, Lt.-Col. F. P. Connor) ; Quelat Saleh below 

 Amara, Sheik Saad, Haquicole on Euphrates near Hamar Lake (Capt. 

 C. M. Ingoldby) ; Faleya (Capt. Mackenzie) ; Zobeya (Capt. Pitman) ; Basra 

 (Maj. C. Christy). 



Numerous specimens, nearly all with a single upper labial shield (the 

 fourth) entering the eye. r /-.u- a 



Habitat : Europe and Asia as far East as the extreme West of China and 

 the extreme North-West of India, Asia Minor, Transcaucasia, Persia, 

 Mesopotamia, Syria and neighbouring parts of Sinai and Egypt. 



Abundant wherever there is water. Major F. E. W. Venning who 

 collected the specimens from the Hamar Lake, on the Euphrates has 

 told me that on warm days the shallow water edging the lake appears to be 

 writhing with them. — C.M.I. 



5. Zamenis gemonensis, L&uT, v&T. asianus, Boettg. 



Basra, Amara, Bagdad, Haquicole (Lt.-Col. F. Wall) ; Faleya (Capt. 



Mackenzie) ; Basra (Maj. C. Christy). t.,. j n r..„fl <»««» 



fiaii^ai: This form is known from Asia Mmor, Rhodes, Cyprus, Syria 



andPersia. 



