1881.] MR. W. T. BLANFORD ON PERSIAN REPTILES. 679 



fourth and fifth supralabials entering the orbit instead of the fifth 

 only, in the shape of the vertical, which is pentagonal with straight 

 instead of convex sides, in the greater number of ventral shields, 

 and in the tail being one eighth only of the total length instead of 

 about 1 : 6'.5. As, however, the two forms have precisely the same 

 coloration and are alike in other characters, it is not clear how far 

 the peculiarities of the Persian form may be due to merely indivi- 

 dual variation. 



The genus Catachlcena may be thus defined : — 



Head scarcely broader than the neck ; body rounded ; ventrals 

 angulate ; tail short, conical ; pupil slightly elliptical, vertically 

 elongate. Teeth in the upper jaw few iu number, the last larger 

 than the others and situated at a distance behind them. 



Fig. 2. 



Head of Catachlcena diadema, var. 



Rostral peculiarly shaped, being sharply folded back upon the 

 upper surface of the head, where it extends for a distance equal to 

 the length of the postfrontals, and turned back at a still sharper 

 angle laterally, so as to form part of the side of the head in front of 

 the nasals. Nostril extremely small and subvalvular, between two 

 shields. 



I find this is not the first time that this Snake has been recorded 

 from Persia; for Dumeril and Bibron state that a specimen was 

 brought thence by Aucher-EIoy '. Bottger records the same species 

 from Jaffa, in Palestine. 



The specimen from Southern Persia measures 18 inches, of which 

 the tail is 2^, and has 188 ventral shields and 36 pairs of subcaudals. 



Zamenis diadema. 



Specimen without precise locality. 



Zamenis cliffordi. 



Dehbid. 



The specimen of Z. diadema is probably from Southern Persia, 

 and agrees with most South-Persian specimens in having three small 

 shields between the postfrontals and vertical. The ventrals are 

 distinctly angulate. In the Snake from Dehbid, north of Shiraz, the 



' The specimen is not now in the museum of the Jardin des Plantes. I made 

 inquiries for it, as I wished to see wliether it presented the same peculiarities as 

 the other Persian individual above described. 



